Integrated circuits (ICs) have become ubiquitous. Cell phones, computers, automobiles, airplanes, cameras, medical devices, video equipment, and many other devices include ICs. A typical IC includes several types of semiconductor devices, such as transistors. In modern ICs, transistors may be used to implement logic or memory functions. Equipment and devices having ICs are used in a wide variety of environments and operating conditions.
Moore's law refers to a historical trend in which the number of transistors on an IC doubles every 18 months to two years. Moore's law is due in large part to the ability of manufacturers to shrink minimum feature sizes of transistors. For example, a popular processor introduced in 1986 had 29,000 transistors. The size of the smallest features on this IC was 3×10−6 m. In contrast, the IBM Power7® core introduced in 2010 has 1.2 billion transistors, and uses a 45×10−9 m process.