PALO
ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 2005--HP
(NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced that its
researchers have created a new way to design future
nano-electronic circuits using coding theory, an approach currently being used
in certain math, cryptography and telecommunications applications. The result
could be nearly perfect manufacturing yields with equipment a thousand times
less expensive than what might be required using future versions of current
technologies.
In
a paper appearing in the
June 6 issue of "Nanotechnology," a
publication of the Institute of Physics, HP Labs
authors Phil Kuekes, Warren Robinett, Gadiel Seroussi
and Stan Williams explain in detail a defect-tolerant
interface to HP's patented crossbar architecture.
"We have invented a completely new way of designing
an electronic interconnect for nano-scale circuits
using coding theory, which is commonly used in today's
digital cell phone systems and in deep-space probes," said
Williams, HP Senior Fellow and director, Quantum
Science Research at HP Labs. "By using a cross-bar
architecture and adding 50 percent more wires as
an 'insurance policy,' we believe it will be possible
to fabricate nano-electronic circuits with nearly
perfect yields even though the probability of broken
components will be high."
Williams
said he believes future chips will have to rely,
at least in part, on the crossbar architecture,
in which a set of parallel nanoscale wires are laid
atop another set of parallel wires at approximately
a 90 degree angle, sandwiching a layer of electrically
switchable material in between. Where the material
becomes trapped between the crossing wires, they
can form a switch that represents a "1" or "0," the
basic building blocks of computer code.
Future chips may be limited in the geometric complexity
that can be created at the nano level because of
problems with precision alignment. Crossbar structures
are highly regular and therefore relatively easier
and less expensive to fabricate than the complex
array of wires, transistors and other elements in
today's processors. The disadvantage of crossbars
is that they require more space on the silicon substrate.
"We think the tradeoff of space versus manufacturing
ease will become more an issue in the near future," said
Williams.
Furthermore, as sizes of electronic features get
down to a few nanometers, it will become either physically
impossible -- or economically unfeasible -- to produce
absolutely perfect circuits.
"Future chip manufacturers will have to deal with
the reality of defects," said Williams.
HP's approach involves enhancing a device known
as a demultiplexer, which enables data to be read
and written in a circuit by connecting the crossbar
array of nanowires to a small number of conventional
wires. By adding a few more conventional wires and
using basic coding theory, the HP researchers show
that the demultiplexer will still work even if a
significant number of the connections between the
conventional wires and the nanowires are broken.
"It's like giving a distinctive name to a restaurant
host to be sure you hear your party called above
the noise of the crowd," said Kuekes, a senior computer
architect and one of the authors of the paper. "Instead
of 'the Jones party,' you might put yourself down
as 'the John Paul Jones party.' That way, when the
host calls your name, you'll hear it, even if every
word doesn't come through clearly."
Using
defect tolerance to replace the need to produce "perfect" chips
could provide a huge cost advantage for chip manufacturers
in the future.
Williams said the HP Labs group has created working
devices in the laboratory at the 30 nanometer half-pitch
scale -- about a third the size of today's chips.
The International Technology Roadmap for Silicon,
the standard for the industry, predicts that chips
using features at 32 nanometers half pitch should
be in production in about seven to eight years.
Note to editors: An illustration of the crossbar
array and demultiplexer is available upon request.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers,
businesses and institutions globally. The company's
offerings span IT infrastructure, global services,
business and home computing, and imaging and printing.
For the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2005,
HP revenue totaled $83.3 billion. More information
about HP is available at www.hp.com .
|
