ENERGY SAVING PC CHIP

PC chip that saves energy, is 60% faster
Washington: Indian-American Raj Dutt, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus, has developed a next-generation energy-efficient computer chip that has caught the attention of the Pentagon, which is testing its application in the ambitious F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The breakthrough technology by Dutt, chairman and CEO of privately-held APIC Corp and Photonic Corp, helps computer processors consume up to 90% less energy and run up to 60% faster. “The significance of the technology is that information transfer on the semiconductor chip as well as between components, will now be done using light — photons — instead of just electrons (electronics),” Dutt said. There are many advantages in size, weight and especially power consumed, he explained during his recent trip to Washington. Photons do not generate heat, thus they do not need to be cooled. For electronics, cooling is one of the largest cost components. “Photonic interconnects do not generate heat and use less size than electronic copper interconnects, so more transistors can be put onto a chip. Most significantly, we have figured out how to do this using the same economical process used in manufacturing semiconductor chips today, enabling them to be stamped out by the millions,” Dutt said. Well aware with the potential of the computer chip, the US department of defence is fully supporting Dutt and his company. The Pentagon is testing the chip’s application in the ambitious F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. There are several benefits to the computer and defence industry, Dutt said. “First, for military platforms there are tremendous savings in size, weight and power required, while it simultaneously brings much more capability in bandwidth, processing power and speed,” he said. Now, tens or even hundreds of separate signals (frequencies) can be passed through a single fiber optic cable less than a 10th of the diameter of a human hair, rather than one signal through a copper cable, he said. PTI (TOI 10OCT11)