How can processors work reliably, given that they are made up of millions of elements?

Question

Processors

Processors are made up of millions of transistors and can last for years. How does it work? Are these small transistors so reliable that they don't fail? Or can the processor work normally even if a few (or even some percentage) of the elements fail (highly doubtful, but suddenly)?

Answer 1

In fact, any transistor degrades over time, even if no current flows through it.
There is such a term as diffusion, and so even in solids this diffusion manifests itself, as a result of which each transistor degrades. Diffusion is greater, the higher the temperature of the processor. That. if the processor is very hot, then its reliability drops sharply. The opposite effect is that a processor that has never worked has the least chance of failure.
Further.
There is no such thing as a transistor failure, there is a concept of a change in its characteristics. A transistor is not a light bulb.
Therefore, over time, as I wrote above, all transistors degrade in the processor.
But since they work in a key mode (either they pass a lot of current, or they don’t conduct it much), in most cases you don’t notice changes in transistors, because for you, as an observer, everything goes as it should.
If some transistor fails (changes its characteristics significantly or does not work as it should), then even in this case you may not notice anything for years. It's just that this transistor is simply not used at this time.
If it is used, then this event can be so rare that you will just notice a computer freeze once a week or month.
That. in order for the processor to become truly inoperative, quite a lot of transistors must "break".
But engineers are not stupid, they are also capable of making transistors of different sizes. That. the most commonly used, such as a clock generator, etc. have a larger area, and greater reliability.
But in general, such elements have a simple logic, contain few transistors and other elements, and therefore occupy an insignificant area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe crystal.

Answer 2

There are very few moving parts in a processor. this is one of the main reasons for the reliability of processors.

Answer 3

and they work until they fall under degradation and in the cache the error correction is not bent

Answer 4

From Sand to the Processor (Intel Publication)