what does process geometry mean?

from ARM DDI 01001, there is a term: process geometry, does it mean the chip size?

Caches and write buffers to improve average system performance are now commonplace in ARM® memory systems. Core clock rates have increased at a faster rate than memory access times over recent years. This factor, and smaller process geometrie开发者_开发问答s, the economics of on-chip memory, and system power constraints have encouraged the use of caches to meet growing system demands.

thanks.

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It refers to the size of the "wires" in a processor (or memory) such as "35 micron". The term "process" refers to how the chips (processor) is fabricated and not the process-or :-) So, for a given layout, a processor with a smaller process geometry will be smaller. However, if the processor is changed (e.g. more cache or processing unit are added) then the processor die size may actually increase. Smaller process geometries usually imply less power consumption as well.