I stopped making chips the last day of 1994, Texas Instruments.
For years Intel promoted that Noyce invented the integrated circuit when all he had was some suspicious notes in his engineering book while Kilby had a working device.
Working is good....
Computer components are racist...and sexist.
The vacuum tube, the transistor, the integrated circuit, the central processing unit...they were all invented by evil WHITE MEN!
Good! It’s about time.
I just talked to a guy Friday who is making vacuum tubes right now.
I would be interested in picking your brain. Lately I have been contemplating what would be required to set up some sort of amateur transistor/chip making effort.
My thinking is that if we ever suffer from an EMP device, or if we have a financial collapse and/or social upheaval, the ability to make relatively simple I.C.s might be a very useful ability to have.
Do you suppose such a thing could be done by an amateur?
One of the unintended consequences of this technology is that data, and I mean sensitive data, can be loaded on small devices in a short period of time.
So much so, that none of us should be surprised that everything about us that is on-line will be made available to anyone who wants to know.
They can set up firewalls and super encryption and make us change passwords, but where there are humans, there’s always a few on the inside with access. Eventually a rouge will download.
There still is a place for paper records. Where security is more important than efficiency.
Engineers find a simple yet clever way to boost chip speeds
I think it’s a bit simplistic to hold Moore’s law to only the chip size. In accordance with his first comments which set the rules, I think it is reasoned to do so, but in the larger picture aren’t we really more interested in productivity as well as the chip?
I’m personally not as concerned with the size of a chip, as I am with the power. Double that power in a workable reliable way, and you’ve more or less conformed to the intent of Moore’s law, if not the letter of it. (I realize there’s a counter argument here, but I’m not convinced it’s worth persuit)
If my overall equipment size continues to get smaller even though the chip size may have rebounded a bit, do I really care?
The overall functionality of the equipment is what is important to me.
So yes technically Moore’s law may have met a brick wall, but I’m thinking nobody is going to bother bitching a lot if a good tunnel to more reliable power goes through it.
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I was working that day in the South Building.
And I’m working today in the organization called SVA, or what used to be known as National Semiconductor.
AI is around the corner, Super AI happens months after that, humans stop existing hours after that.
Did I hear recently that TI was going after Maxim?