Drivers of semiconductor scaling
Past: Energy consumption and physical size
- Power dissipation dominates chip design
- Power dissipation and size drive computer infrastructure
- Fans, heat sinks, etc. to get rid of heat
- More chips ? bigger boards
Future: Interconnect (wire)
- Wire parasitics can dominate chip speed
- Resistance, capacitance, inductance, delay
- Increased noise (switching, coupling) and delay
Shrinking device dimensions reduces energy consumption, physical size, and interconnect length