COOLING & POWER SOLUTIONS
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"Is cooling the central design issue of our time?"
"Few principles in the electronics business have been so constant, dependable, and predictable as Moore’s Law, but a sea change in its guidance may be in the offing. The problem is heat. Fast electronics and tightly integrated packaging that are typical in embedded systems in military and aerospace applications generate substantial amounts of excess heat, and the pace of improvements in integrated circuitry is outstripping our ability to remove the unwanted heat. Tightly packaged electronics, in fact, are becoming more commonplace almost daily. ... Yet after such a phenomenal 40-year run, Moore’s Law soon may no longer apply - not because of physical limitations to stuffing ever-more transistors on a chip, but because of the industry’s lagging ability to remove heat from chips at the same pace of new processor development." Read the full article.
"The End of Moore's
Law.
Microchips are getting smaller—and that's the problem."
"When Intel churned out a 90-nanometer chip called "Prescott" last year, it went from pushing the boundaries of miniaturization to the realm of nanotechnology. Unfortunately for the chipmakers, this level of shrinkage has side effects. Not only was Prescott slower than its predecessor, it generated more heat — the mortal enemy of laptop motherboards. The smaller the chip, the hotter they run. The heat created by so many transistors stuffed onto a tiny sliver of silicon has pushed the thermal conductivity of the copper interconnects to their limit. When they overheat, the interconnects can fail.
Since it has hit a "thermal wall," Intel can't continue to shrink its chips to increase speed and computing power anymore. And it isn't alone. The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, which reflects the consensus of the major microchip trade organizations in the United States, Europe, and Asia, reports that the interconnect issue is a huge stumbling block. Unless chip manufacturers figure out some new techniques, the march to miniaturization could stall.” Read the full article.
“To enable the transition to such a future force, the soldiers’ uniforms, weapons systems, sensors, and communication capabilities are all going through a period of revolutionary development. Perhaps the most critical of these new developments are power supply systems to allow the new electronics-based equipment to function effectively for missions up to 72 hours in length. … Future soldiers, operating in concert as part of a light and mobile force, will depend heavily on networked applications for both situational awareness and access to supporting fires. As a consequence, power for communications-electronics will become the most critical component of warrior capabilities. … Each new capability brings with it a claim on existing weight and space to be borne by the dismounted soldier. For the soldier to function effectively, these weight and space assertions must be limited. Key to this management process will be controlling power demand and providing the power and energy systems that place minimal weight and space demands on the soldier.” Patrick F. Flynn, Chair, Committee on Soldier Power/Energy Systems
LINIGEN: cooling and power solutions
to ensure that Moore's Law lives on
contact: info@LINIGEN.com