3 ms·
Far as IC's, Ive been reading on their failures for some time. As non-HW person, it looks like the physics of IC reliability get worse every time they shrink to
by nickpsecurity 9y ago
Far as IC's, Ive been reading on their failures for some time. As non-HW person, it looks like the physics of IC reliability get worse every time they shrink to a lower node. Variability of what each component does increases. The analog may drift more since I saw one group using digital cells to keep it accurate at 90nm. I keep seeing attempts to do magic at the gate or synthesis levels to counter a bunch of this. They already do to a large degree which is why they last 2-3 years in first place instead of breaking immediately.
So, it looks like they'd spend a lot extra with effects on performance/watts/cost to make them last for NASA lengths of time. Those same companies are incentivized to sell new chips regularly in a price-competitive market. So, no reason for them to do aforementioned work since it's just throwing away money.
Again, just overview of a non-HW guy that reads a lot of HW industry's publications. HW people correct anything I missed please.
- lfowles 9y agoTo extremely simplify it, we're effectively making our lightbulbs smaller and expecting the same brightness out of them. We could keep a bulb going for a century, but it's not going to light as well as we expect.