# How small could Z80 microprocessor made with modern transistors?

If an 8,500 transistor Z80 microprocessor were manfactured using 7nm transistors rather than 1970s era 6µm, how small would it be?

• This looks looks like it may be a homework question. Can you provide a context? Will it have any integrated memory? – Caleb Reister Oct 16 '19 at 23:34
• @Caleb It's definitely not a homework question. I was just musing what we (humans) could theoretically build with current technology for biomedical purposes. Something like this is the closest I could find: phonearena.com/news/… And that was over 6 years ago... – Peter Oct 16 '19 at 23:40
• You could probably swallow an original Z80 die (~3.5mm²), though I wouldn't recommend doing so. It also depends on whether you plan on having integrated memory. The ARM processor you linked to has both SRAM and flash. – Caleb Reister Oct 16 '19 at 23:49

Not counting the pad ring, it would use approximately $$\\left(\frac{7}{6000}\right)^2 = 1.36 \times 10^{-6}\$$ the area.