How are changing datasets changing the future of chip design?
We will always have to deal with bandwidth and getting more and more effective bandwidth for moving information into and out of our devices. The increasing data set size will have an effect on the memory and I/O subsystems in a significant way and we will have to be able to move these data elements at ever faster rates. Copper interconnects are presenting some challenges in meeting future bandwidth needs. There’s still some headroom but it’s moved way beyond the point where you could just lay a trace down on a motherboard and expect that you could transfer data where only one in 1024 bits is in error. The error rates are going up, and these will be compensated for by communications processing technology to get the levels of reliability that we are accustomed to, or we will understand how to live with the larger error rates. When the cost of transferring data using the dominant technology – that is, copper – becomes greater than another technology, then, at that time, you will probably
