Posted on 08/21/2006 6:59:35 PM PDT by annie laurie
Proponents of the new Ballistic Deflection Transistor technology say it will produce computers that are faster, more powerful, and more efficient at using power.
Scientists at the University of Rochester have come up with a new "ballistic computing" chip design that could lead to 3,000-gigahertz — that's 3-terahertz — processors that produce very little heat.
Marc Feldman, professor of computer engineering at the University, characterizes the design, the Ballistic Deflection Transistor (BDT), as radical. "There's a real problem for standard transistors to keep shrinking," he says. The BDT doesn't have a capacitance layer that becomes problematic at very small scales the way current transistor designs do.
Quentin Diduck, the graduate student at the University who came up with the idea, describes the BDT as the next step on the evolutionary track after relays, tubes, and semiconductors.
The BDT, according to the University of Rochester, "[bounces] the electrons into their chosen trajectories — using inertia to redirect for 'free,' instead of wrestling the electrons into place with brute energy." It functions more as an intersection for electrons than as a device that expends energy to stop and start them. Because of this approach, far less power is required.
The BDT relies on a layer of a semiconductor material called a "2D electron gas," which facilitates the transit of electrons without the interference of impurities.
Feldman says he expects the BDT to put out very little heat. "We don't have the mathematics to predict how small this is going to be," he says. "But the currents it would take are very small. So the power has to be small."
The heat generation for early versions of the design should be around a few microwatts per transistor, Feldman estimates, orders of magnitude less than current high-frequency transistors. "Now that's without doing any tricks to cut down the power," he says. "There are great opportunities for low-power design. But that's the future."
Companies that maintain large, energy-hungry data centers like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, to name a few, are no doubt looking forward to that day.
The BDT still has a ways to go before it ends up in PCs and servers, however. "Up to now this has been a one-graduate-student effort," explains Feldman. "We don't have any transistor behavior yet, but probably soon."
The National Science Foundation has just granted the University of Rochester team $1.1 million to develop a prototype.
I'll see your "Bush is a moron" and raise you "Clinton is a liar" for 15,700 hits!
A lot of hype for a 'transistor' that doesn't "transist".
That's smarter than you realize. It will run faster if cooled.
Wonder how a small Direct expansion refrigeration unit could be made for a computer. Nice little rotary compressor with a small evap coil that mounted on the CPU and some flexible lines to connect the components. Or possibly a micro sized chiller with self contained refrigeration unit and coolant pump. That would eliminate water quality problems by using a glycol solution in a closed system.
Sounds good, but you would probably need to cool the whole mother board, including RAM.
Let me guess, we'll see this in the magical place called "10-20 years from now" land?
No way!
That's what motor cycle engines are going to look like if the enviro-weenies get their way...
And not just from water damage. Pumps that wear out too quickly is a common problem.
And btb, there are water blocks for the north/southbridge chips, and hard drive attachments too.
Don't think I've seen one for psu's.
Vaporware for now. This is one guy's idea and they don't even have the basic math done on efficiency. I'm not sure why this made the news at all.
I often send this test to folks in need of a grammar wake up call.
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=14457200288064322170
Yep, it's been done. As well as one in a pizza box. Wierdest one was a guy submerged the motherboard and cards in a tub of mineral oil, then cooled the oil (mineral oil is non-conductive).
Somewhere around here, I've got an article on doing it for about $800!
Then again, I'm not a gamer, and I really don't need to Freep faster! I freep faster than I can read as it is now (which is why I usually don't bother with actually reading the stuff I respond to, as many have remarked to me!)
Mark
Yup, that's what it is! A cigarette lighter/ash tray (PC definition is a cup holder) that fits in a standard 5 1/4" drive bay!
I got one of these for a friend's birthday a few years ago... I'm saving up for an oxygen tank cozy for him next year!
Mark
Or no ways!
I'm out. Can't beat a Clinton insult.
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