aggielife
THE BATTALION
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Scil Tech
The MMKMK
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Computers heading for speed limits
By Brad Bennett
THE BATTALION
The computer industry needs a break
through in chip design as chip manufac
turers quickly approach the physical lim
itations of silicon processors, according
to recent research from Texas A&M
electrical engineering professor Laszlo
Kish.
Moore’s Law is the theory that com
puter processing speed will double every
year, named after Intel co-founder Gordon
Moor., The law has held fast since Moore
made the prediction in 1965.
However, the law is becoming obso
lete. Kish said. The law will become out
dated in six to 10 more years as processors
reach their physical limitation - their
speed limit - somewhere around 10 giga
hertz.
Currently, the fastest processor avail
able from Dell is 3 gigahertz - gigahertz
denoting one billion operations performed
per second.
Kish’s theory shows that as proces
sors get smaller, thermal noise interfer
ence becomes more of a problem.
obstructing a processor’s electrical sig
nals. Thermal noise is caused by heat,
which is a natural by-product of electric
ity moving through microchips while
they perform calculations.
“Small noise spikes are present (in
processors) now, but are negated because
of their size,” Kish said.
To combat problems ££
associated with thermal
noise, chip manufacturers
have been lowering the
voltage supplied to chips as
the size drops, which ere
If there is a
breakthrough that
improves energy
He said that if microchip innovation
were to continue at pace with Moore’s
law, chips would shrink to less than 40
nanometers, or one ten-millionth of a
meter. Transistors are currently 100
nanometers in size.
Nancy Forbes and Mike Foster dis
cussed Moore’s Law in
Computing in Science &
Engineering magazine.
Forbes said Moore pre
dicted that his rule would
become void by the year
2010, but she claims his
ates problems with energy
efficiency in the chip. ,, . , .
Energy-efficiency prob- Llule to continue Culp becoming
lems are caused when ener- improvements,
gy is wasted during normal
processing of the chip. The
amount of wasted energy
due to inefficiency increas
es as the chip gets smaller.
Energy efficiency is a
leading cause of the prob
lem with chip progress, but it could be part
of the solution.
“If there is a breakthrough that
improves energy efficiency, we will be
able to continue chip improvements,”
Kish said.
efficiency, we will be prediction of limitation was
based on chip production
economically
infeasible after a certain
point - not on the physical
limitations of microchips.
Besides a breakthrough
in energy efficiency, Laszlo
said, parallel processing is a
possible direction to take in
future chip development.
— Laszlo Kish,
Texas A&M professor
Parallel processing uses several chips or
microprocessors operating simultaneously
to complete a task.
In Computing in Science &
Engineering, James Miendl of the
Georgia Institute of Technology said
that new interconnections - the metal
wiring between transistors - are the key
to chip improvements.
Miendl said chip manufacturers are
beginning to look at the importance of
interconnections, which have been
“benignly neglected” by chip designers
for the past decade.
Miendl said he sees several areas
where interconnections can improve
chip performance, such as changing
materials used, increasing the intercon
nect’s cross-sectional dimensions,
implementing multi-level interconnec
tions that utilize chip wiring in two
directions instead of one, and using
three-dimensional structures composed
of multiple wiring levels.
In the late 1990s, chip manufactur
ers’ switch from aluminum to copper
interconnections demonstrated chip
manufacturers interest in improving
interconnections, he said.
Miendl said seeking an alternative
material to silicon, or at least a material to
supplement silicon’s shortcomings.
Chip development is assured as present
transistors have evolved from vacuum
tubes through three other stages of devel
opment to their present state, he said.
Change in microprocessor speeds since 1971
Source: wvvw.i>( imk.raim iy.nki
Travis Swenson • THE BATTALION
NEWS IN BRIEF
Hacker compromised
8 million credit cards
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A hack
er who gained access to mil
lions of credit card numbers
apparently did it by breaking
into a computer system at a
company that handles transac
tions for catalog companies
and other direct marketers.
Data Processors International,
based in Omaha, said
Wednesday that "an unautho
rized outside party'" had tapped
into its computer system.
Scott Jones, a company
spokesman, refused to com
ment on when the hacker
gained access and how many
credit card account numbers
may have been compromised.
Credit card companies and the
Secret Service have said that as
many as 8 million account num
bers were accessed.
Texas promotes
smallpox vaccination
AUSTIN (AP) — More than 20
years after smallpox was consid
ered eradicated, Texas is launch
ing its immunization program to
battle a potential new outbreak
of the disease.
Dennis Perrotta, state epidemi
ologist and head of the bioter
rorism preparedness program
for the state health department,
rolled up his sleeve and received
his smallpox shot Tuesday.
"In these dangerous times, we
must be prepared," said health
commissioner Dr. Eduardo
Sanchez.
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