Have we reached the limit of computer power? - Sajan Saini and George Zaidan
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Moore’s Law states that every 1 to 2 years the number of transistors that can fit on a given size computer chip will double. Thanks to this law, chips have gotten smaller, faster, more efficient, and cheaper. But today, there are four key problems that trip up this trend, potentially ending Moore’s Law and fundamentally changing how computing progresses. Sajan Saini and George Zaidan investigate.
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Gordon Moore, one of Intel’s founders, first mapped how lithography innovation results in fabricating denser and finer circuit features—and improving chip performance—at an exponential pace. Even he acknowledged this so-called “Moore’s Law” could not continue unchecked, and this review paper details how it began to break down (end of “Dennard Scaling”) or slow down, after 2005. Today, researchers explore innovative More than Moore designs that include packing chips together in parallel, new approaches to keep them from overheating (including backside cooling), “2.5D” and 3D stacked packages; and co-packaging light-based photonic chips to lower heat generation and support AI computing.
To learn about the fundamental building block of microchips: the transistor, read all about its role as a digital on/off switch, how shrinking its size led to better performance and has reached real limits, and how researchers are now improving performance by new architectures that even break from the planar design of lithography, or exploit quantum interference in exotic molecular transistors.
Once a chip is laid out with a network of transistor-based components, metal lines called interconnects link up the digital neighborhoods, and electrical heat dissipation in thinning lines adds dramatically to the above-mentioned heat load problem. Learn more about the design of these lines, and how engineers improved them to near-ideal limits.
Over time, generations of engineers have seriously/playfully observed up to five laws, as deep-held commandments that characterize the growth of the computing industry, and the drive for smaller, faster chips (Moore’s “First” Law) inevitably leads to escalating costs for lithography and chip fabrication facilities (Rock’s Law, a.k.a Moore’s “Second” Law). The environmental toll of these manufacturing processes is now becoming apparent as well, in the amount of ultrapure water consumed and critical reliance on PFAS chemicals (more details here). It will be up to the next generation of engineers to determine what additional commandments may guide a more sustainable industry growth.
And, can you cook an egg on a computer chip? Take a look...
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Sajan Saini , George Zaidan
- Director Jeff Le Bars, Jet Propulsion
- Narrator Adrian Dannatt
- Composer Stephen LaRosa
- Sound Designer Stephen LaRosa
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Produced by Sazia Afrin
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Editorial Producer Dan Kwartler
- Fact-Checker Charles Wallace
- Special Thanks Anuradha Murthy Agarwal