The Not-So-Cool Future

markmcb writes "Researchers at Purdue University and several other universities are looking to start work on a major problem standing in the way of future chip design: heat. The team is proposing a new center to consolidate efforts in finding solutions for the problem that is expected to become a reality within the next 15 years as future chips are expected to produce around 10 times as much heat as today's chips. The new center would work to develop circuits that consume less electricity and couple them with micro cooling devices."

Comments

But think about the,,,

[Deltaspectre]

Think about the people up in northern Canada, who need that precious heat! Unless this is some evil conspiracy to kill them off?

Nothing new

[koreaman]

What this boils down to is "researches are looking at ways to make cooler chips." Well, duh, haven't they always?

Not Cooling

[LordoftheFrings]

I think that the solution to the heat problem will not come with better and more powerful cooling solutions, but rather radically changing how chips are designed and manufactured. The article doesn't contradict this, but I just want to emphasize that. Having some liquid nitrogen cooling unit is not the optimal, or even a good solution.

Re:Photonic chips?

[Rorschach1]

Thermodynamics makes sure of that.

Minimum Energy Requirements of Information Transfer and Computing