[IP] IBM, Stanford Craft Next-Generation Chips
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Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 00:28:03 -0700
From: Karl <karlk@xxxxxxxxxx>
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115876,00.asp
IBM, Stanford Craft Next-Generation Chips
New research group uses science of spintronics to create high-powered CPUs.
Tom Mainelli, PCWorld.com
Monday, April 26, 2004
SAN JOSE--IBM and Stanford University have announced a new research group
dedicated to the emerging science of spintronics, with the goal of creating
prototype CPUs that complete computations through magnetism instead of
today's electrical charge.
"We're trying to do something that could be as significant as the launch of
the transistor 50 years ago," says Robert Morris, vice president of IBM's
personal systems and storage. He directs the Almaden Research Center here,
where Big Blue and Stanford luminaries announced the new joint development
effort.
The IBM-Stanford Spintronic Science and Applications Center (SpinApps)
could be key to future advancements in processor technology, according to
Stuart Parkin, an IBM Fellow and manager of the Magnetoelectronics group at
the center.
Processor manufacturers have traditionally increased CPU performance by
shrinking a chip's circuitry so it can run faster, he notes. This method
has dramatically increased computing power over the past few decades, but
the process is hitting physical limitations. Specifically: The necessary
electrical charge causes those faster chips to get too hot to handle.
Processor giant Intel has noted the growing problem of heat in recent
years, too.
Parkin and his associates hope spintronics will help create
ever-more-powerful processors, so manufacturing roadblocks won't slow the
pace of technological evolution.
Line Up the Electrons
Today's processors use an electrical charge to create on and off states. A
processor based on the principles of spintronics could control the spin (or
magnetic orientation) of electrons and create two possible states: up or
down. The result: atomic-size structures that offer enormous computational
capabilities while generating very little heat.
Parkin estimates that current processor manufacturing technologies could
yield five to ten more years of performance improvements. However, that's
not much time to develop a new way to build CPUs.
"It takes a long time to go from theory to product," Parkin says.
In fact, that's about how long it has taken another spintronics-based
technology to go from idea to product, he adds. Magnetic random access
memory (MRAM) has been in the works for more than nine years. Several
companies are now readying products that use the technology, and could ship
them as early as next year.
Cheap, high performance, and nonvolatile, MRAM represents a dramatic
improvement over today's two most common memory standards: dynamic RAM
(DRAM) and static RAM (SRAM, or flash memory), Parkin says. He likens
today's DRAM to a leaky bucket that must be constantly refreshed to
maintain its contents. Meanwhile, SRAM doesn't leak, but it must be a much
larger bucket. MRAM is like a small bucket that doesn't need constant
refilling. IBM and Infineon Technologies announced in 2000 plans to
co-develop MRAM products.
Spintronics on the Net
While CPUs and MRAM are still on the drawing board, IBM has already
introduced its first spintronics-based product. In fact, it appeared back
in 1997 as the first hard drive to use the giant magneto-resistive (GMR)
head. The GMR technology brought about a 40-fold increase in data density
over the past seven years, and helped fuel the massive growth in hard drive
capacities, according to IBM representatives.
By enabling manufacturers to create large, cost-effective hard drives,
spintronics technology has helped the Internet expand, Parkin notes. With
lots of cheap storage available, the Web has had more room to grow.
In fact, IBM's contributions to areal density have may have led to the
company's retreat from the hard drive business, he jokes.
"By 2005 we'll be able to store all of the data in existence on just the
hard drives shipped in that year. Maybe that's why we sold the disk drive
business," Parkin says. IBM sold its hard drive division to Hitachi in 2002.
Regardless of the eventual business ramifications, Parkin and his
team--comprising more than 25 research specialists including Stanford
professors, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and IBM
employees--clearly have lofty goals for this emerging technology.
In his closing comments at the announcement, IBM's Morris outlined the
technology's potential to impact everything from computational computing to
storage. He noted, in what could turn out to be an understatement, "we may
be on the verge of something extremely important."
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