Nanometers, As Relative to CPUs

Generally speaking , it means what scale the transistor gates were built at. So if you are comparing a 22nm process to a 45nm process, you'd be able to cram twice as many transistors in the same space with the 22nm process compared to the 45nm process. 22nm transistors would be about half the actual physical size as built with a 45 nanometer process

This does not directly translate into better performance. However, it generally means so though, because you generally have more transistors used. But like a 45nm 3 GHz processor of the same generation would not necessarily perform better than a 22nm processor of the same generation.

However the next biggest thing to consider is power usage. The smaller the transistor , the less power that is required to power it, which translates into less heat.

Smaller=better.

5nm is about as small as they are going to get -- which is not all that far away -- and then we are looking at entire paradigm shift in processors.

Thanks guys .