8. Glossary

Moore's Law

Empirical law designed to predict the evolution of computer processing power and hardware complexity. It predicts a doubling in density (number of transistors per unit area of electronic chips) every two years, thanks to the switch to finer etching.

In 1965, Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, postulated that the number of transistors per circuit of the same size would double, at constant cost, every year. A few years later, Moore corrected his prediction to a doubling of the number of transistors on a microprocessor chip every two years. This second postulate proved particularly accurate, and popularized the term "Moore's Law".

Focused Ion Beam (FIB)

A scientific instrument that uses a focused ion beam. It is also a technique used in particular in the semiconductor industry, materials...