Sorry, I meant 'lazy' as in not willing to spend the $$s needed. Perhaps the ROI is just terrible.
Yep. That's it. But "ROI" as in not just money, but people, tools, effort.
The most amazing thing nowadays is how much effort it takes to do
less than before. Not more,
less. Because its on a nano-scale, making flat transistors must be very difficult. But FinFET and TriGate makes it 3D. No longer flat. But then the gains are less than we got in the Golden sans-High K, sans-FinFET, sans-Strained Silicon days.
We've yet to hit the hard size limits of shrinking. You know why node names aren't anywhere related to actual sizes nowadays? Because the minimum size determines the difficulty of production, meaning its connected to yield and functioning chips. So with 45nm Intel went High-K because the dielectric was too small, and they wanted to make it bigger, but achieve "same" benefits as shrinking without High-K. On 22nm Intel went TriGate to avoid scaling down gate length but try to get the same benefit as if they did scale gate length. It's not lying, but a practical means to solve what's an increasing issue.
The architectural advancements are mostly based on concept known for decades. The biggest difference from now and 30 years ago is that now we can produce them. Architectures cost more to do less too.
An article I read compares the advancement in computers to advancements in Aeronautics.
In 1903, Wright Brothers demonstrated the first powered flight. The engine was probably weak as the same one some people mount on their bicycles. The whole aircraft was made of materials probably less durable than modern parachutes. In a span of 70 years however, airplanes advanced to a point where they could ferry 200-300 passengers 20k feet or so up in the air at 500 miles an hour. All with interior comfort exceeding Greyhound travels(based on my experience
).
40 years later, we basically have the same technology as that first commercial jet. In fact, the two biggest airplane manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus had so much problems with A380 and 787 Dreamliner, but historically the two airplanes are at standstill in terms of technological prowess.
So at some point, Airplane advancement full-on halted. I'm pretty sure people thought we'd be flying regularly to Mars by now and travelling around the globe would take 2-3 hours.
Reason? Too noisy. Too polluting. Too expensive. Too expensive for customers. Sure, ROI.
For some who read my comments about competition being an ultimate limiter. Idontcare mentioned this as well. We may be able to take it to the next level, if we
all cooperate. Companies worry so much about competition nowadays that they reduced revealing circuit advancements at ISSCC. Litigation. Patent trolls. Heck, stop fighting and work together!
The problem isn't just technological nowadays. Social and Economic problems are causing problems in advancements. Moral too.