But isn't the reality that defects are localized and that the rate of defects is more or less proportional to the amount of stuff you're making?
Not all defects are local. Sometimes you have to throw out the entire wafer. The rate and kind of defects is specific to each step in the process and there are many steps.
To make a wafer of modern semiconductor devices is a process that takes up to 4 months! If you double the number of layers you're already looking at 8 months and without some improvement in the reliability of each step you definitely are squaring the probability of producing a defect free device.
Making a device with ten thousand layers would require completely different technology, since we can't wait 40,000 months for the chips to arrive.
Not all defects are local. Sometimes you have to throw out the entire wafer. The rate and kind of defects is specific to each step in the process and there are many steps.
To make a wafer of modern semiconductor devices is a process that takes up to 4 months! If you double the number of layers you're already looking at 8 months and without some improvement in the reliability of each step you definitely are squaring the probability of producing a defect free device.
Making a device with ten thousand layers would require completely different technology, since we can't wait 40,000 months for the chips to arrive.