I was watching the new 4nm transistor size for the new Qualcomm snapdragon 8 gen 2. How does the parts of processors get so small that they’re the same size as around a few dozen atoms?
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1) Transistors don’t have moving parts. They use electrical fields to either induce or prevent electrons from moving through them. This means that they can be scaled down extremely small, and the limits on their size are related much more to capacitance leakage issues.
2) Transistors are manufactured using a process called photo-lithography. An extremely thing layer of silicon (or other material) is laid down then parts of it is etched away by exposure to light to created the desired shape. Then a new layer is applied and the process is repeated until the transistor(s) are complete.
3) Entire chips are manufactured at once rather individual transistors being manufactured and assembled together afterwards. Even then, the chips are tiny when compared to a silicon wafer, so many chips are built at once in parallel.
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