Miniaturization (Br.Eng.:miniaturisation) is the trend to manufacture ever-smaller mechanical, optical, and electronic products and devices. Examples include miniaturization ofmobile phones,computers and vehicleengine downsizing. Inelectronics, the exponentialscaling and miniaturization ofsiliconMOSFETs (MOS transistors)^[1][2][3] leads to thenumber of transistors on anintegrated circuit chip doubling every two years,^[4][5] an observation known asMoore's law.^[6][7] This leads toMOS integrated circuits such asmicroprocessors andmemory chips being built with increasingtransistor density, faster performance, and lowerpower consumption, enabling the miniaturization ofelectronic devices.^[8][3]

The history of miniaturization is associated with thehistory of information technology based on the succession of switching devices, each smaller, faster, and cheaper than its predecessor.^[9] During the period referred to as theSecond Industrial Revolution (c. 1870–1914), miniaturization was confined to two-dimensional electronic circuits used for the manipulation of information.[10] This orientation is demonstrated in the use of vacuum tubes in the first general-purpose computers. The technology gave way to the development oftransistors in the 1950s and then theintegrated circuit (IC) approach which followed.^[9]

The MOSFET was invented at Bell Labs between 1955 and 1960.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]} It was the first truly compacttransistor that could be miniaturized and mass-produced for a wide range of uses,^[17] due to itshigh scalability^[1] and lowpower consumption, leading to increasingtransistor density.^[5] This made it possible to buildhigh-density IC chips,^[18] with reduced cost-per-transistor as transistor density increased.^[19]

In the early 1960s,Gordon Moore, who later foundedIntel, recognized that the ideal electrical and scaling characteristics of MOSFET devices would lead to rapidly increasing integration levels and unparalleled growth inelectronic applications.^[20]Moore's law, which he described in 1965, and which was later named after him,^[21] predicted that the number oftransistors on an IC for minimum component cost would double every 18 months.^{[contradictory][6][7]} In 1974,Robert H. Dennard atIBM recognized the rapidMOSFET scaling technology and formulated the relatedDennard scaling rule.^[22][23] Moore described the development of miniaturization during the 1975International Electron Devices Meeting, confirming his earlier predictions.^[19]

By 2004, electronics companies were producingsilicon IC chips with switching MOSFETs that had feature size as small as130 nanometers (nm) and development was also underway for chips afew nanometers in size through thenanotechnology initiative.^[24] The focus is to make components smaller to increase the number that can be integrated into a single wafer and this required critical innovations, which include increasing wafer size, the development of sophisticated metal connections between the chip's circuits, and improvement in thepolymers used for masks (photoresists) in thephotolithography processes.^[21] These last two are the areas where miniaturization has moved into the nanometer range.^[21]

Miniaturization became a trend in the last fifty years and came to cover not just electronic but also mechanical devices.^[25] The process for miniaturizing mechanical devices is more complex due to the way the structural properties of mechanical parts change as they are reduced in scale.^[25] It has been said that the so-calledThird Industrial Revolution (1969 – c. 2015) is based on economically viable technologies that can shrink three-dimensional objects.^[10]

Inmedical technology, engineers and designers have been exploring miniaturization to shrink components to the micro and nanometer range. Smaller devices can have lower cost, be made more portable (e.g.: for ambulances), and allow simpler and less invasive medical procedures.^[26]

• Microtechnology
• Nanotechnology

• Miniaturization – Glossary definition

• Industrial processes
• Technological change

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