Abstract :
The 40th anniversary of Moore´s Law is approaching in 2005. Penned in 1965 in Electronics magazine, Moore´s initial prediction that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double annually has been referenced and discussed often in the industry and in the financial press. It was Carver Mead at Cal Tech who called it a law, as if it were a fundamental principal of science or economics. And the behavior of the industry has progressed accordingly. Often IC firms used it to set design goals in their general drive for process and product improvement.