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Technology nodes from 10 µm to 2 nm

NODE SCALE

10 µm 2 nm

Selected: 10 µm
10 µm 3 µm 1,5 µm 1 µm 800 nm 600 nm 350 nm 250 nm 180 nm 130 nm 90 nm 65 nm 45 nm 32 nm 22 nm 16 nm 11 nm 7 nm 5 nm 3 nm 2 nm

Technology node · 10 µm

10 µm

The 10 µm process refers to the manufacturing technology that came into use at leading semiconductor manufacturers from 1971 onward. It marks the beginning of microprocessor manufacturing: the structures were still large enough to be easily visible with a simple optical microscope.

Manufacturing was based on PMOS technology with an aluminum gate. The gate was applied after the source and drain regions and had to overlap them considerably as a safety margin because the masks could not be aligned more precisely. This overlap created a large parasitic capacitance and significantly limited switching speed.

Exposure used the g-line of a mercury-vapor lamp at 435.83 nm, using contact or proximity printing: the mask was placed directly on the wafer or just above it. This is optically simple, but it causes wear on both the mask and the wafer and limits yield. Wafers typically had a diameter of 2 inches, and interconnection used a single metal layer.

Processors manufactured in 10 µm (selection):
  • Intel 4004 (1971), 2,300 transistors
  • Intel 8008 (1972)