Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 20:27:52 02/10/00
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On February 10, 2000 at 22:08:55, Tom Kerrigan wrote: >On February 10, 2000 at 18:11:25, Robert Hyatt wrote: > >>The basic clock frequency for a chip comes from adding up gate delays in a >>path from X to Y inside the chip. If you go too fast, you latch data before >>it settles. If you go too slow, you just go too slow. If you ramp up the >>clock beyond spec, you _must_ do something to speed up the gate delays. One >>way is to up Vcc. That ups the heat. Which kills the chip lifetime. You >>can do various tricks to conduct the heat away (ie kryo approach). But no >>matter what you do, you can't make the gates function much faster. In some > >This is not correct. > >Gates function faster at lower temperatures. > >As I said in a previous post, I wouldn't be surprised if a 1GHz Athlon @ -40C is >more stable than a 750MHz Athlon @ 100C. > >-Tom The physics don't support you there. IE gates don't function faster at absolute zero, but the resistance goes to zero. I know of no physics law that says electrical signals propagate faster at lower temperatures... Of course, you can ramp up the voltage to make them switch faster, and you can make them smaller, because cooler temperatures combat the heat rise for smaller junctions. But I sure don't see why they would switch faster. If they did, Cray would have run his stuff at really cold temperatures since he was speed-centric...
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