Intel Uncut: The engineers and architects explain how Intel got down to 45nm.

Moore's law has pushed the phyisical limits of the current materials. Intel has used Hafnium based materials allowing for smaller devices without gate leakage. As Kelin Kuhn says, the technology is getting nearly "incomprehensable". With 45nm technology we are working on a scale where 400 transistors can fit on the the size of a human bloodcell. Modern processors are allowing for 100's of millions of working transitors, and devices in the fab are being produced at 1/10th the wavelength of light ... truly amazing.