01/28 Arun Yenumula, Srikanth Reddy Singireddy "Inside Intel"
- What is moore’s Law?
Ans:Intel co-founder Gordon Moore made this famous observation in 1965, just four years after the first planar integrated circuit (IC) was discovered. The press called it "Moore's Law”. He observed, “Moore stated that the transistor density in Integrated Circuits (ICs) doubles every couple of years.
This exponential growth and ever-shrinking transistor size will result in increased performance and decreased cost.”
It still holds true today. The aim of Intel’s technology development team is to continue to break down barriers to Moore's law.
- When was the world’s first microprocessor built and by whom?
Ans:Founded in 1968 to build semiconductor memory products, Intel introduced the world's first microprocessor in 1971.
- How many transistors were there on Intel chips in 1970 compared with 2000?
Ans:400419712,250
80081972 2,500
80801974 5,000
80861978 29,000
286 1982 120,000
386™ processor 1985275,000
86™ DX processor 1989 1,180,000
Pentium® processor1993 3,100,000
Pentium II processor 1997 7,500,000
Pentium III processor 1999 24,000,000
Pentium 4 processor 2000 42,000,000
Itanium 2 processor2003410 million
-----x------x---20071 billion (expected)
- Describe the two model-based image sequence and analysis techniques
Ans:There are two model-based techniques:
1.Image reconstruction
- Feature detection and classification
In model-based image analysis, a geometric model is matched against the acquired image data. Examples of such models are models of human bones in MRI scans, or a human face model. Driven by the image data, the model
Right: Noisy image from a direct-write nano-machining tool, showing sub-micrometer silicon structures. Left: De-noised real-time reconstruction of the image by nonlinear spatio-temporal filtering techniques.
parameters are optimized by minimizing a cost function. This makes it possible to estimate position and shape of features in the image.
Image Reconstruction:
It is the process of generating an image from the raw data, or set of unprocessed measurements, made by the imaging system. In general, there is a well-defined mathematical relationship between the distribution of physical properties (e.g. density, acoustic impedance, magnetization) in an object and the measurements made by the imaging system. Image reconstruction is the process, which inverts this mathematical process to generate an image from the set of measurements.
Feature Detection and classification:
Detection of a wire in noisy data. Color. Noisy image of wire. Grey: Estimated position based upon statistical model.
Even if a nano-structure image can be reconstructed, currently the tool operator must make a decision — such as determining when a certain structure of interest is visible in the noisy image. Automated visual feedback requires quantitative data analysis supported by model knowledge of the observed structures. Probabilistic techniques are being explored for automatically detecting and classifying nano-features, to assist users and to reduce the risk of human error. By rigorously exploiting domain knowledge information can be extracted from degraded images beyond the limits of human perception
A mask, such as the one pictured above, is a highly intricate and complex stencil used to direct create patterns of light onto a silicon wafer. The light that does not get blocked by the mask etches microscopic geometric shapes onto the wafer's surface.- What is EUV Lithography? And how is it useful in making chips?
Ans:Intel has made major strides in the next generation process known as Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. EUV lithography uses a series of mirrors to direct light with a wavelength of 13.4nm to print exceptionally small features (transistors) below 45nm.
Making computer chips using EUV light may lead to microprocessors that are 10x more powerful than today's most advanced chips, and memory chips with similar increases in storage capacity.
Intel developed and delivered the first industry-standard format photo masks (also called "masks") for Extreme Ultra Violet (EUV) lithography. EUV light is absorbed in the atmosphere and by most materials. Therefore, EUV masks must reflect rather than transmit light. To achieve this, a special low thermal expansion substrate is coated with multiple layers of ultra-thin silicon and molybdenum using a novel fabrication process was developed. This special substrate creates a highly reflective mirror, which is tuned to match the frequency of the EUV exposure light. Transistor patterns are then created on these special "mask blanks." The EUV masks delivered to the EUV LLC will print a minimum feature size of 50nm.
- What is the projected processor speed using the 65nm logic process technology?
Ans:Processors built using EUV technology are expected to reach speeds of up to 10 GHz in 2005-2006. At present, the fastest Pentium 4 processor today is 2.4 GHz.
- What is Raman BioAnalyser System (RBAS)? How does it work?
Ans:Intel built an Intel Raman Bioanalyzer System at the FredHutchinsonCancerResearchCenter in Seattle. The instrument beams lasers onto tiny medical samples, such as blood serum, to create images that reveal the chemical structure of molecules. The goal is to determine if this technology, previously used to detect microscopic imperfections on silicon chips, can also detect subtle traces of disease.
RBAS is based on a technique known as Raman spectroscopy; By shining a laser beam at an object, molecules within the substance are stimulated to give off a spectrum that can be detected by sensors in a Raman spectrometer. Because every substance has a unique chemical composition, every substance produces a unique Raman spectrum - the equivalent of a chemical barcode tag.
- What is Intel research helpful in monitoring Alzheimer’s disease?
Ans:Intel's Proactive Health strategic research project is developing in-home technology prototypes to test applications that address the needs of the world's aging population. An example of this technology is a wireless "sensor network" made up of thousands of small, sensing devices that could someday be embedded throughout the home to monitor important behavioral tendencies such as sleep and eating patterns, location and also send prompts to a person such as reminders to take medication. The data collected by the sensor network could help in the detection and prevention of dementia or other medical conditions, as well as help a caregiver locate a patient in need.
01/30 Habes Wardat "Nickel hardening"
- What is a 2-Theta Scan?
Ans: 2 theta scan is a method that used to study the characteristic peak of materials, which means, when we noticed the particles on our TEM and STM samples we used 2 theta scan to see weather these particles are siliconcarbide or not.
- During the preparation of the nanocarbide sample, where did the Fe and Cu particles come from?
Ans: These particles came from the coper ring that was used to hold the small sample.
- Describe the steps for the production of nano particles.
Ans:
As you see solid material undergoes heating process and reacted with a reacting gas, in this case it was CO, then molecular clusters undergoes cooling process to produce nano crystals
02/02 Shubhra Karmakar "Computing Mega Future with Electronic NanoTechnology"
Q # 1:- Explain Moore’s Law with respect to
- Mechanical Relays
- Transistors
- CMOS
Answer
As can be seen the number of operations per seconds in Mechanical Relays doubled every 8 years during the early stages of device development.
Interestingly, the same capability of transistors has been doubling every 2 years and for CMOS every 1 year. In order to keep up with this pace of development in operational efficiency, it is predicted that by the year 2030, nanoelectronic devices OPS/sec capability will double every few months
Q # 2:- What are the two paths to nano-electronic devices?
There are going to be two prime paths to nanoelectronic devices.
- The first path is to develop nano-scale descendents of present day solid-state devices.
- The second path considered to be more radical, is to fabricate nano-devices from molecules. The second approach is called “Molecular Electronics Approach”
Path-1
Over the last few decades computer power has grown at an amazing rate, doubling every couple of years. This increase is essentially due to the continual miniaturization of the computer's most elementary component, the transistor. As transistors became smaller more could be integrated into a single microchip, and so the computational power increased. However this miniaturization process is now reaching a limit, a quantum threshold below which transistors will cease to function. Present ‘state-of-the-art’ components possess features only a few hundreds of nanometers across (a nanometer is a thousandth of a micron, or a billionth of a meter).
Depicted below is the first technique to get nano-electronic devises
The transition from micro technology to Nanotechnology. The structure on the right is a single-electron transistor (SET), which was carved by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). According to classical physics, there is no way that electrons can get from the 'source' to the 'drain', because of the two barrier walls either side of the 'island'. But the structure is so small that quantum effects occur, and electrons can, under certain circumstances, tunnel .through the barriers (but only one electron at a time can do this!). Thus the SET wouldn't work without quantum mechanics.Path-2
The second path considered to be more radical, is to fabricate nano-devices from molecules. The second approach is called “Molecular Electronics Approach”
Molecular electronics uses covalently bonded molecules to act as devices. Molecules by virtue of their size are natural nano-scale structures. Molecular electronics will bring the ultimate revolution in computing as: -
- 1 trillion such devices can be packed into a single chip
- And the memory capacity in a terabyte level
Also because of their small size, the primary advantage of molecular devices is that they can be fabricated in large numbers. The present day challenge however is to develop methods to incorporate these devices in circuits
Depicted below is the second technique to get nano-electronic devises
From an SET (on the left) to the ultimate computer element: a molecule! Although both these structures use quantum mechanics, only the one on the right could be employed in a true 'quantum computer'.Q # 3:- Three disadvantages of scaling down of CMOS ?
As we all know, the current VLSI systems relies heavily on CMOS technology and with miniaturization, it is predicted that by the year 2012, a CMOS will have 1010 transistors.
Consequently, the operating speed will surge to 10-15 GHz.
The path to scale down nano-CMOS is not going to be an easy one.
1 As we scale down devices will become
- More variable and faulty
- Also fabrication will become
- More expensive
- Constrained
- The design is also expected to become
- Complicated
- Expensive
Q # 4:- What are Resonating Tunneling Diodes (RTD’s) ?
Resonant-tunneling devices
Here, we focus primarily on explaining the operation of resonant tunneling devices, because they employ quantum effects in their simplest form [1]. Presently, these devices usually are fabricated from layers of two different III/V semiconductor alloys, such as the pair GaAs and AlAs. The simplest type of resonant tunneling device is the resonant tunneling diode (RTD). As depicted in Figure 2(a), a resonant-tunneling diode is
made by placing two insulating barriers in a semiconductor, creating between them an island or potential well where electrons can reside. Resonating tunneling diodes are made with center islands approximately 10 nanometers in width. Whenever electrons are confined between two such closely spaced barriers, quantum mechanics restricts their energies to one of a finite number of discrete "quantized" levels. This energy quantization is the basis for the operation of the resonant-tunneling diode. The only way for electrons to pass through the device is to However, when the energy of the incoming electrons aligns with that of one of the internal energy levels, as shown in Figure 2(c), the energy of the electrons outside the well is said to be "in resonance" with the allowed energy inside the well. Then, current flows through the device--i.e., the device is switched "on." By adding a small gate electrode over the island of an RTD one may construct a somewhat more complex resonant tunneling device called a resonant tunneling transistor (RTT). In this three-terminal configuration, a small gate voltage can control a large current across the device. Because a very small voltage to the gate can result in a relatively large current and voltage across the device, amplification or "gain" is achieved. Thus, an RTT can perform as both switch and amplifier, just like the conventional bulk-effect transistor. Unlike conventional bulk effect transistors, which usually have only two, switching states, "on" and "off," resonant tunneling devices like RTDs and RTTs can have several switching states.
Q # 5:- Disadvantages and Advantages of Resonating Tunneling Diodes (RTD’s)
- The advantages of RTDs are
- Multiple logic stages are possible
- These are semiconductors based devices capable of large scale fabrications
- The same scaling limitations (disadvantages) as CMOS exist.
These devices are currently in production
Q # 6:- What are Spintronics and what is it based on? Give 2 devices based on Spintronics?
The terms Spintronics, Spin-Electronics and Magneto-Electronics are synonymous. IBM commercialized this concept in 1997, which uses the spin of electrons rather than charge to store information. Information is stored into spins as a particular spin orientation (either UP or DOWN).
All Spintronic devices act according to the simple scheme: (1) information is stored (written) into spins as a particular spin orientation (up or down), (2) the spins, being attached to mobile electrons, carry the information along a wire, and (3) the information is read at a terminal. Spin orientation of conduction electrons survives for a relatively long time (nanoseconds, compared to tens of femtoseconds during which electron momentum decays), which makes Spintronic devices particularly attractive for memory storage and magnetic sensors applications.
Two devices based on Spintronics:-
- MRAM
- MCPU
Magnetic RAM is a more imminent development than a magnetic CPU, because CPUs involve more complex hardware.
Magnetic Random Access Memory:-
An obvious application is a magnetic version of a random access memory (RAM) device of the kind used in your computer. The advantage of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is that it is 'non-volatile' - information isn't lost when the system is switched off. MRAM devices would be smaller, faster, cheaper, use less power and would be much more robust in extreme conditions such as high temperature, or high-level radiation or interference.
Magnetic Central Processing Unit:-
In the distant future, programmable magnetic logic elements could be configured to form magnetic central processing units (MCPUs) — the brains of the computer. An MCPU could be reprogrammed on the fly so that the architecture of the machine optimally matches the subtask at hand.
02/02 Nazneen Sait "Nano Robotics"
- What is Nanorobotics?
Ans: Nanorobotics is an emerging field that deals with the controlled manipulation of objects with nanometer-scale dimensions. As an atom has a diameter of a few Ångstroms (1 Å = 0.1 nm = 10-10 m), and a molecule´s size is a few nanometers, nanorobotics is concerned with interactions with atomic- and molecular-sized objects, and is sometimes called molecular robotics.
A nanorobot is a specialized nanomachine designed to perform a specific task or tasks repeatedly and with precision. Nanorobots have dimensions on the order of nanometers (a nanometer is a millionth of a millimeter, or 10-9 meter).
- What is a fractal robot?
Ans:Fractal robot is a new kind of robot made from motorized cubic bricks that move under computer control. These cubic motorized bricks can be programmed to move and shuffle themselves to change shape to make objects likes a house potentially in a few seconds because of their motorized internal mechanisms.
- What is the projected power of fractal OS?
Ans:The fractal operating system plays a crucial role in making the integration of the system seamless and feasible even if there are billions of CPUs in the collective.
A fractal operating system converts parallel fractally writtencode to execute in parallel order or serial order seamlessly by virtue of the fractal organisation of the data and programs. This allows increases in CPU horsepower to be automatically exploited when needed without having to rewrite code.
A fractal operating system uses a number of features to achieve these goals.
- Seamless integration of software, data and hardware
- Transparent data communications.
- Data compression at all levels including communications
- Awareness of built in self repair
- How will self repair work in fractal robots?
Ans:An advantage of the fractal operating system is that self repair feature is aware of failures and has routing built in to avoid faulty hardware.
There are three different kinds of self repair that can be employed in a fractal robot.
1) Cube replacement: The easiest to implement is cube replacement. Instead of discarding the cubes, the robot could reconfigure into a different machine and carry the broken parts within it. The faulty parts are moved to places where their reduced functionality can be tolerated.
2)Usage of plates to construct the cubes: If any robotic cubes are damaged, they can be brought back to the assembly station by other robotic cubes, dismantled into component plates, tested and then re-assembled with plates that are fully operational. Potentially all kinds of things can go wrong and whole cubes may have to be discarded in the worst case. But based on probabilities, not all plates are likely to be damaged, and hence the resilience of this system is much improved over self repair by cube level replacement.