3 μm process

The 3 μm process (3 micrometer process) is the level of MOSFET semiconductor process technology that was reached around 1977, by companies such as Intel.

The 3 μm process refers to the minimum size that could be reliably produced. The smallest transistors and other circuit elements on a chip made with this process were around 3 micrometers wide.

Semiconductor device fabrication

MOSFET scaling (process nodes)
20 μm – 1968 10 μm – 1971 6 μm – 1974 3 μm – 1977 1.5 μm – 1981 1 μm – 1984 800 nm – 1987 600 nm – 1990 350 nm – 1993 250 nm – 1996 180 nm – 1999 130 nm – 2001 90 nm – 2003 65 nm – 2005 45 nm – 2007 32 nm – 2009 28 nm – 2010 22 nm – 2012 14 nm – 2014 10 nm – 2016 7 nm – 2018 5 nm – 2020 3 nm – 2022
Future 2 nm ~ 2025 1 nm ~ 2027
Half-nodes Density CMOS Device (multi-gate) Moore's law Transistor count Semiconductor Industry Nanoelectronics