Researchers Tackle the Dark Side of Moore's Law

April 15, 2015 • by Marc Airhart

To mark the 50th Anniversary of Moore's Law, we'll explore how much computing power has improved and how much farther it can go.

A comparison of microscopic structures on computer chips from 2005, 2010 and 2015 shows transistors shrinking and becoming closer together

According to Moore's Law, the number of transistors on a computer chip doubles roughly every couple of years. Each one is also proportionally smaller. In this conceptual illustration, each rod-shaped feature forms part of two transistors. Source: Chris Mack. Illustration by Jenna Luecke.


Graph shows how increasing density of transistors relates to increases in heat

Patrick Gelsinger, an Intel executive, predicted that unless something changed, computer chips would become hotter than nuclear reactors within a few years. Illustration by Jenna Luecke.

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