Tick-Tock was an aggressive development model introduced by Intel for their mainstream microprocessors in 2005 and phased out in 2016 whereby microarchitecture changes were in-sync with their process shrink. Under the tick-tock scheme roughly every 12-18 months the Intel alternated between "Tick" and "Tock". Intel no longer uses this model, instead they use the Process-Architecture-Optimization (PAO).

Under the Tick-Tock Model:

• Tick - With each tick, Intel advances their manufacturing process technology in line with Moore's Law. Each new process introduces higher transistor density and a generally a plethora of other advantages such as higher performance and lower power consumption. During a tick, Intel retrofits their previous microarchitecture to the new process which inherently yielded better performance and energy saving. At this phase, only lightweight features and improvements are introduced.

• Tock - With each tock, Intel uses the their latest manufacturing process technology from their "tick" to manufacture a newly designed microarchitecture. The new microarchitecture is designed with the new process in mind and typically introduces Intel's newest big features and functionalities. New instructions are often added during this cycle stage.

Roadmap

Intel Tick-Tock Roadmap
Cycle	Process	Introduction	Micro­archi­tecture
Tick	65 nm	2005	Pentium D
Tock	65 nm	2006	Core
Tick	45 nm	2007	Penryn
Tock	45 nm	2008	Nehalem
Tick	32 nm	2009	Westmere
Tock	32 nm	2010	Sandy Bridge
Tick	22 nm	2011	Ivy Bridge
Tock	22 nm	2013	Haswell
Tick	14 nm	2014	Broadwell
Tock	14 nm	2015	Skylake

Timeline Slides

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