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New Schemes for Powering Processors.

Building an on-chip high-voltage transmission grid is one way researchers think they could distribute power better


Image: Michal Mrozek/iStockphoto

Two similar schemes - one at the circuit level, one at the material level.

In the long run, to handle the demands of a growing number of transistors and to increase power efficiency, experts say that power conversion will have to move onto the silicon chip. Achieving that could require new thinking about the geometry of chip layout to find the most efficient designs. “It will be really helpful if somebody actually has a voltage converter inside silicon,” says Karnik, “but you have to do it right.”

-- Tom