Definition: angstrom era

The angstrom era refers to the precision in today's chip making machines that are able to align the next lithographic plate within one to two nanometers (10 to 20 angstroms) over the previous layer. We are definitely in the angstrom era.

Angstrom Branding Is Not Really in Angstroms
Since the beginning of processor manufacturing in the 1950s, the size of the elements in a transistor have been shrinking from as large as 120,000 nanometers to approximately 20 nanometers today. Starting in the 1990s, this "feature size" was turned into a brand, and every couple years, the number got smaller.

Around the 2010s, actual feature sizes were no longer shrinking at the same rate, although improvements to transistor design and manufacturing were, and are, constantly being made (see GAAFET). However, in order to keep the branding uniform and not start an entirely new brand sequence, chip vendors kept applying ever-decreasing nanometer numbers to their new generations of chips.

For example, whereas a 90 nm chip typically had a gate length of 90 nm, a 10 nm chip has a gate length of around 20 nm. A 2 nm chip may have gate lengths around 12 nm and a metal pitch around 20 nm. See metal pitch.

There are 10 angstroms per nanometer, and to keep the number decreasing, once the branding reached one nanometer, angstroms were used. For example, Intel has used 18A and 20A. To review the full evolution, see chip feature size, angstrom and Intel node names.

Angstroms Are In!

This banner was At the HumanX AI conference in Las Vegas in March 2025. Angstroms sound really high tech, and we are, in fact, in the angstrom era with regard to precision.

Absolute Angstrom Precision

ASML's EUV machines are most definitely in the Angstrom era. The initial alignment between wafer and photomask (reticle) may be from one to three angstroms, and subsequent aligments between layers must be from one to two nanometers (10 to 20 angstroms). See EUV machine. (Image courtesy of ASML.)