Precision and perfection are the keywords when its come to the designing of microchips in the fab industry. A small difference was said to have cast a lot of difference but not according to Mr.Krishna Palem according to whom an itch of an error was actually better for better performance of the ICs. This was listed as one of the TOP 10 ET that for the years to come and could probably propel a change in our future.
His take is that in the field of audio and video processing the kind of precision anticipated is actually not needed as the end results that we get are not precise numbers so a lil nit of imprecision can cut its way. Since the errors in those cases are small, probability can be used to find out such errors.
Having said that, he’s taking the help of the probability in defining his new concept and developed a new kind of Transistor called the PCMOS(Probability Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) which is piggybacking onto the Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor.
PCMOS is a microchip design technology that allows engineers to trade a small degree of accuracy in computation for substantial energy savings.
The Difference:
Every calculation done by a microchip depends on its transistors’ registering either a 1 or a 0 as electrons flow through them in response to an applied voltage. But electrons move constantly, producing electrical “noise.” In order to overcome noise and ensure that their transistors register the correct values, most chips run at a relatively high voltage.PCMOS chips compute differently than regular chips because of way electricity moves through their transistors. Rather than pushing the same amount of power through all parts of the PCMOS chip, voltage is assigned on a sliding scale. Palem’s idea is to lower the operating voltage of parts of a chip–specifically, the logic circuits that calculate the least significant bits. The resulting decrease in signal-to-noise ratio means those circuits would occasionally arrive at the wrong answer, but engineers can calculate the probability of getting the right answer for any specific voltage.
IMPACT:
* This could be the extension of the Moore’s law
* This could eventually help increase the battery life of mobiles and the laptops
* This could well be the defining feature for years to come as the size of the transistors shrink and thus become so miniscule sized that probability is the only way the designers have.
* It also has applications in Quantum Cryptography and Machine Learning.
This technology was showed off at a recent Technical conference where in the audience were shown in the output from a PCMOS simulated circuit and an incumbent chip simulated circuit and what was actually found was that there was no sheer difference between the video quality.
The power consumed by the processors could also be reduced by using the PCMOS chips as these chips tend to consume less power than their counterparts.
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