Singapore-US team creates microchip that is 30 times more power efficient

Mobile phones and other portable devices that require recharging only once every couple of weeks could soon be possible with a new microchip unveiled at the International Solid-State Circuit conference in San Francisco this week. Prof. Yeo Kiat Seng at the Nanyang Technology University and Prof. Krishna Palem from Rice University headed the efforts to develop this new 2mm-by-2mm chip that consumes 30 times less power than a standard chip.

The technology involved is called probabilistic complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (PCMOS), and is heralded as being less sensitive to electrical noise inherent to ever-shrinking chip designs. Traditional Boolean-based chips that power the processors of today typically pump out more power to drown out these electrical noises. PCMOS, on the other hand, boosts performance by harnessing this interference instead.

Even though they designed it, the teams could not believe the performance of the microchips when they were first delivered in December last year. They were put through repeated test runs as a result.

It will be at least four years yet before the appearance of actual products based on this technology. However, Intel Microprocessor Technology Lab director Shekhar Borkar called the "energy and speed advantages" of the new technology a "significant achievement."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at The Straits Times

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