Tag Archives: chips
IBM’s New Green Optical Microchip
When people think about green energy, typically solar, electric vehicles, wind, biofuels, and LED lighting come to mind; however, much of the world’s energy is consumed from electronic devices and computers, and the industry has been researching new, faster, power-saving microchip technology that consumes dramatically less energy than prior generations. Recently, IBM scientists announced the [...]
Solar and the Grid
“We live in a global world … and the fact is, if everybody on the planet lived like we do in America, we’d need 10 planet Earths. This is a sad fact, but, unfortunately, we’re all going to have to make do with a lot less in the future.” ~Scott Gordon, SVP of Sales, HelioPower Let’s [...]
Energy Efficient Chips as Mini Internets
The speed of computer chips isn’t getting faster, so in order to keep computational power of chips increasing additional processing units or ‘cores’ are being given to the chips by the chipmakers. A typical chip used presently has a maximum of eight cores, which communicate over a single bundle of wires, generally called a bus. [...]
In Focus: Efficient Electronics
Grid power is something that most of us take for granted. We do not really about where it comes from and how it is generated and are happy as long as we get it continuously without any major disturbances in the supply. Both modern domestic industrial needs though place incredible amount of demand on our [...]
Memories of 300mm Semiconductor Fabs
I ran across an old issue of Future Fab International – Issue 6 – that I have had since it was published in 1998. I helped write an article that was published in this issue titled “Complete System Integration is Crucial to the Success of 300mm Manufacturing.” The article looked at changes that would be [...]
In Focus: 3D Chip Packaging (VIDEO)
Personal mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and laptop PCs are rapidly evolving, becoming faster, smaller and functionally more sophisticated. To maintain this dramatic progress in device capability, the semiconductor industry is now at a new inflection point – the era of 3D chip packaging. In this video, Applied’s Sesh Ramaswami discusses the fundamentals of advanced [...]
Intel Switches to Solar CPU in Graphics Chips $INTC
Code named as Claremont, the solar powered processor by Intel will be showcased at the International Solid State Conference in San Francisco by the end of this month. Also known as the near threshold voltage (NTV) CPU, its main highlight is that it can operate even at extremely low voltage levels. The NTV CPU is [...]
In Focus: 3D Chip Technology (video)
It’s not just movies, televisions and video games that are going three-dimensional these days. Microchips are doing it, too. Semiconductors aren’t shifting into the third dimension because it’s fashionable, though. This shift is about continuing Moore’s Law, the relentless drive for higher performance that has driven the industry for four decades. With three very different [...]
Solar Chips? Frito-Lay Installs 1 MW Solyndra PV System $PEP
PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay North America Modesto, Calif., manufacturingfacility has installed a cylindrical solar photovoltaic system fromSolyndra on its rooftop. The 1 MW system is the largest Solyndrainstallation in the U.S., according to the companies. The project consists of approximately 5,600 panels, covering 247,000 square feet,and was completed in eight weeks. Peak production will reduce theplant’s electricity [...]