There was a general trend in the CPU offerings since the Intel 4004 (the first mass produced microprocessor released in 1971 with a feature size of 10,000nm) called Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors that make up a CPU (or other Integrated Circuit) doubles every two years. The original 486 CPU chip released by Intel in 1989 had a feature size of roughly 800nm where the modern 10th gen i7 realised in 2020 has a feature size of 14nm, so engineers have been able to fit more transistors on a chip. However due to Quantum Mechanics there is a limit on how small the feature size can be before electrons start short circuiting due to the uncertainty principle. An atom is roughly 1nm in size, so we probably expect this as the limit of the size of a feature on the CPU in the best case.

CPUs are manufactured using Lithography, where, in a clean environment, light is shined onto a waiver and reacts with the base material. Then a chemical bath removes sections of the material that are not required, and transistors, connections and other features are formed in this process.

Smaller feature sizes mean less power consumption, and more transistors, and are more efficient.