Plugging the leaks As physical limits bite, electronic engineers
must build ever cleverer transistors MOORE'S LAW—the prediction
made in 1965 by Gordon Moore, that the number of transistors on
a chip of given size would double every two years—has had a good
innings. The first integrated circuit (invented by Jack Kilby of
Texas Instruments, see above) was a clunky affair. Now the size
of transistors is measured in billionths of a metre. Moore's law
has yielded fast, smart computers, with pretty graphics and
worldwide connections. It has thereby ushered in an age of
information technology unimaginable when Dr Moore coined it. Not
bad going for what was originally just an off-the-cuff
observation. That observation, however, is not truly a law. It
is, rather, the description of a journey of many steps, each a
specific technological change (see chart below). That new steps
will happen is as much an article of faith as a prediction.
Every time transistors shrink, they get closer to the point
where they can shrink n