Design Challenges of Technology Scaling

  • Authors:
  • Shekhar Borkar

  • Affiliations:
  • -

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Micro
  • Year:
  • 1999

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Abstract

By considering performance, transistor density, and power, evaluation of trends in process technology and microprocessors against scaling theory shows potential limiters in the future. Overcoming these limiters requires constraining die size growth while continuing supply voltage scaling. Another design challenge is scaling the threshold voltage to meet the performance demand, which results in higher subthreshold leakage currents, limited functionality of special circuits, increased leakage power, and increased soft error susceptibility.