system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do they fit 6.9 billion transistors on a 7 nanometer chip? Additionally, how do they connect them up correctly?

Edit: I think Apple means 7 nanometers apart? Either way, can someone please ELI5?
gpt
7 nanometer technology refers to the smallest feature they can make.

As for how they can be made they are produced through a process called lithography. Individual layers are made and projected onto the material with light, interacting with chemicals to either stay put or wash away to mask areas so other material can be deposited.

Think about making art on a wall by masking things off with tape or paper, then rolling or spraying paint on the wall to stick wherever isn't covered. Then you take it off and repeat again many times to make complex pictures. With chips they can actually be 3D structures as each pass lays down a tiny layer of metal or other material.