Moore's law

About: Moore's law is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 605 publications have been published within this topic receiving 25837 citations.

Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits

Abstract: The future of integrated electronics is the future of electronics itself. The advantages of integration will bring about a proliferation of electronics, pushing this science into many new areas. Integrated circuits will lead to such wonders as home computers—or at least terminals connected to a central computer—automatic controls for automobiles, and personal portable communications equipment. The electronic wristwatch needs only a display to be feasible today. But the biggest potential lies in the production of large systems. In telephone communications, integrated circuits in digital filters will separate channels on multiplex equipment. Integrated circuits will also switch telephone circuits and perform data processing. Computers will be more powerful, and will be organized in completely different ways. For example, memories built of integrated electronics may be distributed throughout the machine instead of being concentrated in a central unit. In addition, the improved reliability made possible by integrated circuits will allow the construction of larger processing units. Machines similar to those in existence today will be built at lower costs and with faster turnaround.

Moore's law: past, present and future

Abstract: A simple observation, made over 30 years ago, on the growth in the number of devices per silicon die has become the central driving force of one of the most dynamic of the world's industries. Because of the accuracy with which Moore's Law has predicted past growth in IC complexity, it is viewed as a reliable method of calculating future trends as well, setting the pace of innovation, and defining the rules and the very nature of competition. And since the semiconductor portion of electronic consumer products keeps growing by leaps and bounds, the Law has aroused in users and consumers an expectation of a continuous stream of faster, better, and cheaper high-technology products. Even the policy implications of Moore's Law are significant: it is used as the baseline assumption in the industry's strategic road map for the next decade and a half.

The chips are down for Moore's law.

Abstract: The semiconductor industry will soon abandon its pursuit of Moore's law. Now things could get a lot more interesting.

Leakage current: Moore's law meets static power

Abstract: Off-state leakage is static power, current that leaks through transistors even when they are turned off. The other source of power dissipation in today's microprocessors, dynamic power, arises from the repeated capacitance charge and discharge on the output of the hundreds of millions of gates in today's chips. Until recently, only dynamic power has been a significant source of power consumption, and Moore's law helped control it. However, power consumption has now become a primary microprocessor design constraint; one that researchers in both industry and academia will struggle to overcome in the next few years. Microprocessor design has traditionally focused on dynamic power consumption as a limiting factor in system integration. As feature sizes shrink below 0.1 micron, static power is posing new low-power design challenges.

Near-Threshold Computing: Reclaiming Moore's Law Through Energy Efficient Integrated Circuits

Abstract: Power has become the primary design constraint for chip designers today. While Moore's law continues to provide additional transistors, power budgets have begun to prohibit those devices from actually being used. To reduce energy consumption, voltage scaling techniques have proved a popular technique with subthreshold design representing the endpoint of voltage scaling. Although it is extremely energy efficient, subthreshold design has been relegated to niche markets due to its major performance penalties. This paper defines and explores near-threshold computing (NTC), a design space where the supply voltage is approximately equal to the threshold voltage of the transistors. This region retains much of the energy savings of subthreshold operation with more favorable performance and variability characteristics. This makes it applicable to a broad range of power-constrained computing segments from sensors to high performance servers. This paper explores the barriers to the widespread adoption of NTC and describes current work aimed at overcoming these obstacles.