Re: NEWS: Intel invents beakthrough in transistor design
From: Max More (max@maxmore.com)
Date: Sun Nov 25 2001 - 19:09:42 MST
At 04:27 PM 11/25/01, you wrote:
Intel has come up with a new
transistor architecture that
may promise terahertz clock speeds (Cough... Not with
a traditional chip architecture because the clock can't
propagate across the chip! At any rate...)
Good stuff. Robert, I don't know if you've already seen this, but there
was an interesting article on chips that throw out the clock entirely.
Here's my review from
www.manyworlds.com:
It's Time for Clockless Chips
Technology Review by Claire Tristram , published on
10/01/01
This excellent, 6-page article reports on a disruptive innovation in the
microprocessor world: Clockless chips. Though clockless chips are still
more theory than reality, the author makes a strong case for their
necessity over the coming years, despite Intel and other chip-makers
having long based their marketing on the clock rate of their chips. Intel
did try to build a clockless chip but never got it out of the lab. These
clockless or asynchronous chips were considered all the way back in 1946.
But early computer engineers chose to go with a clock since they did not
have the ability to build a reliable computer without a governing clock.
Today’s clockless chip enthusiasts point out that clocked chips are
running into barriers that could be solved with asynchronous chips. As
regular chips get more complex, a growing proportion of the power is used
up by the clock itself (currently about 30 percent). Clockless chips
offer longer battery life and faster computing. Lacking a regularly timed
signal, they can also perform encryption in way that is more difficult to
crack, making them ideal for smart cards. These chips also give off very
low levels of electromagnetic noise. This is a growing problem for faster
regular microprocessors. Clockless chips would therefore be ideal for
mobile communications devices. The author shows that for these new chips
to become a reality, solutions to the chicken-and-egg problem of making
design tools, manufacturing efficiency, and experienced designers need to
come together. It may well be that companies like Intel build in some
elements of clockless designs even as the full-blown devices struggle to
emerge.
http://www.manyworlds.com/logcontent.asp?coid=CO1010117465396
Onward!
Max
_______________________________________________________
Max More, Ph.D.
max@maxmore.com or more@extropy.org
http://www.maxmore.com
Strategic Philosopher
President, Extropy Institute.
http://www.extropy.org
<more@extropy.org>
________________________________________________________________
Senior Content Architect, ManyWorlds Inc.: http://www.manyworlds.com
--- Thought leadership in the innovation economy
m.more@manyworlds.com
_______________________________________________________
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