4 ms·

Yep, "solid state" components are not actually solid state!

by trevyn 9y ago

mrob 9y ago
They're really solid state, ie. they're transistors not vacuum tubes. But "digital" components are not always digital ("digital" is a leaky abstraction).
- trevyn 9y ago
  The metal atoms actually move over time simply as a result of electrical current flow! Parts will fail because of this, depending on how they're designed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration
  - kogepathic 9y ago
    It's not just structures within silicon you need to worry about. Lead-free solder is susceptible to growing tin whiskers [0], which can cause short circuits. Often you can't even see the growth of these whiskers as they're under a BGA or on a microscopic level. IIRC, NASA still requires all space hardware to be manufactured with leaded solder to avoid having a multi-million/billion dollar mission ruined by some tin whiskers. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy)
    - Posibyte 9y ago
      The same is required for many projects that sit in exceedingly cold environments. In these situations, leaded solder is required to ensure that the solder joints don't decay (or crumble away completely) from tin pest [0] in the low temperatures. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_pest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_pest
kabdib 9y ago
Consumer hardware folks often think about performance envelopes and product lifetime. "We can run this $gadget at $somany GHz and most of them will fail at 4 years, or we can get to 5 years if we reduce the number of gigglehertzes." (Imagine software people gnashing teeth here, but they always do, so ignore them). Then it might turn out that the models were conservative, so the hardware folks could say "Every machine gets an additional 50 gigglehertzes" (note that nobody tells the consumer about that lifetime projection, though). It's not just silicon, of course. It's the nature of hardware to die: Electrolytic caps go dry, or coils buzz themselves open, or electromigration murders a metal run on a chip, or fans seize, or thermal cycling cracks some solder. Memento mori, don't expect your grandchildren to play on your current generation game console.

Yep, "solid state" components are not actually solid state!

by trevyn 9y ago

Yep, "solid state" components are not actually solid state!

mrob 9y ago

They're really solid state, ie. they're transistors not vacuum tubes. But "digital" components are not always digital ("digital" is a leaky abstraction).

trevyn 9y ago
The metal atoms actually move over time simply as a result of electrical current flow! Parts will fail because of this, depending on how they're designed. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration
- kogepathic 9y ago
  It's not just structures within silicon you need to worry about. Lead-free solder is susceptible to growing tin whiskers [0], which can cause short circuits. Often you can't even see the growth of these whiskers as they're under a BGA or on a microscopic level. IIRC, NASA still requires all space hardware to be manufactured with leaded solder to avoid having a multi-million/billion dollar mission ruined by some tin whiskers. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy)
  - Posibyte 9y ago
    The same is required for many projects that sit in exceedingly cold environments. In these situations, leaded solder is required to ensure that the solder joints don't decay (or crumble away completely) from tin pest [0] in the low temperatures. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_pest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_pest

kabdib 9y ago

Consumer hardware folks often think about performance envelopes and product lifetime. "We can run this $gadget at $somany GHz and most of them will fail at 4 years, or we can get to 5 years if we reduce the number of gigglehertzes." (Imagine software people gnashing teeth here, but they always do, so ignore them). Then it might turn out that the models were conservative, so the hardware folks could say "Every machine gets an additional 50 gigglehertzes" (note that nobody tells the consumer about that lifetime projection, though). It's not just silicon, of course. It's the nature of hardware to die: Electrolytic caps go dry, or coils buzz themselves open, or electromigration murders a metal run on a chip, or fans seize, or thermal cycling cracks some solder. Memento mori, don't expect your grandchildren to play on your current generation game console.