Process variation threatens to slow down and even pause chip miniaturization

For past several decades, the processor industry has enjoyed the benefits of chip miniaturization and the exponential increase in the number of on-chip transistors as predicted by Moore's law. However, as process technology scales to small feature sizes, precise control of fabrication processes has become increasingly difficult. As a result, 'process variation' (PV), which refers to the deviation in parameters from their nominal specifications, has greatly exacerbated.