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Growth in the system on chip design sector is sure to skyrocket over the coming years. The expansion of mobile computing into ever greater areas means there is an increasing demand for the system on chip platforms that these products run on. There are numerous elements that mean this growth is sure to be exponential. Consider the time that can be spent on a mobile computing device compared to a desktop or even a laptop. Pretty much all of the time that is spent away from a desk or somewhere that is convenient to set up a laptop is additional time spent using computers. As the functionality of system on chip designs increases so does the number of tasks that no longer require a user to be tied to a desk or lap top.

The nature of system on chip means embedded devices have broader range of functionality than standard computing devices. If a smart phone can do everything a laptop can do and make phone calls then a user is naturally going to spend more time with the embedded device containing a system on chip product. System on chip also increases the number of devices that are on the market. There are huge numbers of people in the world that could not justify the expense of a normal CPU based computer or laptop. With the enhanced functionality of an embedded device such as a smartphone it makes more financial sense to make the purchase. By giving people simultaneous access to the information database of the internet, the computing power of a desktop and the communication facilities of a cell phone system on chip based devices open up a swathe of opportunities to huge numbers of people who previously had very few. Read the rest of this entry »

According to Moore’s law the density of chips in microprocessors keep doubling every two years. With the increasing density and effectiveness of the current chips the amount of heat generated by these chips is also increasing. To cope with the enormous heat, new technologies will be needed in the future to cool the integrated chips that produces much more heat than the current microprocessors.

Such a new technology has been developed at Purdue University that uses “microjets” to deposit liquid into tiny channels. This technology is able to remove five times more heat than other experimental high-performance chip-cooling methods.

The conventional computer chips usually generate about 100 watts per square centimeter. The chips are air-cooled with finned metal plates called heat sinks and often a small CPU fan. Most of the liquid-cooling techniques are limited to a cooling capacity of about 200 watts per square centimeter. However the new microjet technology is able to cool chips that generate more than 1,000 watts of heat per square centimeter. With its help new doors in the advancement of chips technology can be opened. Read the rest of this entry »

The semiconductor chip is at the core of what we think us as technology. Computers, cell phones, iPods, medical equipment, avionics, etc. have only been possible because of the chip. The American chip industry has been damaged by the recent economic slowdown like most industries, but more importantly, the chip business in the United States has been in a slow fall for 30 years.

In January global chip sales dropped by almost a third from the previous year, to $15.3 billion (Semiconductor Industry Association). Overinvestment in chip factories has resulted in steep losses of over the last 2 years. The chip business has been compared to farming. If too many farmers plant cotton, then the price of cotton will drop (supply and demand).

The American chip industry, outside of Intel, is an endangered species. AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, and others are already gone from the field. Others, like Texas Instruments, have set a path for the eventual elimination of manufacturing. These companies have gone “fabless”, meaning they will continue designing applications, but leave the process technology and manufacturing to someone else (most often to companies in Asia). Read the rest of this entry »