3-D Microchips for More Powerful and Environmentally Friendly Computers

The world of IT pursues its race for performance. CMOSAIC could boost the computing performance of central processors by a factor 10 while consuming less energy.

Scientists are developing 3D microprocessors cooled from the inside through channels as thin as a human hair filled with a liquid coolant. This method is currently being developed by researchers from the EPFL (Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland) and its sister organisation ETH Zurich to boost the performance of future computers. The CMOSAIC project, under the leadership of John R. Thome in Lausanne, aims to develop processors 10 times more powerful with as many transistors per cubic centimetre as there are neurons in the same volume of a human brain — a functional density greater than ever before. IBM has just signed a partnership to join the adventure. Its Zurich-based lab will work together with the researchers from the Lausanne and Zurich Federal Institutes of Technology.

Not so long ago our computers had a single core which had to be boosted for performance — making each machine into a great central heating system. Beyond 85° C, however, electronic components become unstable. To overcome this physical limit, a solution was found with the multicore technology, where the same chip includes several processors which share tasks. Most of today’s consumer electronics proudly boast a “dual core” or “quad core.” However, in time the technology will come up against the same physical limits.

3D processors build on the idea of multicores. However, the cores are stacked vertically rather than placed side-by-side as in current processors. The advantage is that the entire surface of the core can be connected to the next layer, through 100 to 10,0000 connections per mm². Shorter and more numerous, these minute interconnects should ensure that data transfer is 10 times faster, while reducing energy consumption and heat.

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Tags: 3D microprocessors, CMOSAIC, ETH Zurich, IBM, Multi-core

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 20th, 2009 at 11:01 am and is filed under Consider This, Cutting-edge Research, Innovation, Innovation Needed, Project Energy, Science Digest / Science Daily, environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.