Central Processing Unit: Difference between revisions

A CPU is usually made faster by increasing its [[Clock Speed]], by increasing [[Powers of Two Minus One|the word length or "bit number"]], by designing it so that it can handle different stages of multiple instructions at one time (called “pipelining”), or by adding a small "cache" of high-speed memory to store frequently-used instructions and data. Higher clocked and more complex chips run hotter, which is typically dealt with by shrinking the manufacturing process of their components (called a “process shrink.”) The core component out of which CPU circuits are created, the MOSFETs[[wikipedia:MOSFET|MOSFET]]s, in CPUs of 20082014 are as small as 6514 nanometers<ref>That's 61.54 millionths of a centimeter</ref> across, source to drain.<ref>At Theleast, firstaccording 32to this: [[http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2014/08/11/intel-discloses-newest-microarchitecture-and-14-nanometer-manufacturing-process-technical-details|"Intel basedDiscloses chipsNewest areMicroarchitecture beingand produced14 asNanometer ofManufacturing earlyProcess 2010. As ofTechnical 2012, it's down to 22 nm.Details"</ref>