Folding @ Home

[Thermodyne]

Moore’s Law is already in some jeopardy. Intel has run into leakage problems with the new P4 chip “Prescott”. The transistors are so numerous and packed so tightly in the stretched silicon that they leak more current than the chip actually uses. Over 110 watts for the first production yield. These have been written off and the design team has gone back to work on reducing the leakage. An ominous sign is that Intel has begun to talk publicly about SOI metal hybrid chips for the desktop. These would solve the 90nano leakage problems, but add a very high premium to the price of a CPU. In the past, this technology was seen as only being economical for MilTech applications. For Moore’s Law to continue there will need to be a move away from silicon. Carbon seems to be the front runner at this time.