The race to 10GHz
Whether it's processors, graphics chips or memory modules, the semiconductor industry keeps upping the stakes for microchip speed and complexity. But the rapid pace of development is in danger of running into the buffers.
The brakes are on for faster clock speeds due to the problem of heat, because the structures in modern semiconductors are only a few layers of atoms thick. Quantum mechanical effects ensure that current leakage via the thin layers vastly increases and the chips' power consumption and heat loss also see an increase.
Over the past three years the average power consumption of CPUs has almost doubled. In extreme cases, more than 100w are lost in the form of heat, and this figure is increasing.
Providing cooling for the processor is becoming increasingly difficult for component and PC makers. The trick is to use clever technology to get round the problem so that development doesn't grind to a halt and 10GHz processors see the light of day before 2007.
