The integrated circuit has made such steady strides over the past 40 years that it’s easy to believe in a sort of “manifest destiny” for electronics. How could a year go by without the introduction of cool new gadgets boasting previously unimagined capabilities at amazingly affordable prices?
But the chip industry is approaching a crisis. After decades of progress, continued improvement in power efficiency has begun to stall. If we want to continue proliferating cheaper, smaller electronics and usher in what many in the chip industry call anInternet of Things—a future full of billions of always-on, always-connected devices and sensors—we will have to look beyond the CMOS transistor to find a less power-hungry technology.
The future may lie in the past: Looking back to the earliest days of electrically driven computing, we’ve found a surprisingly attractive alternative. It’s theelectromechanical relay. As a switch, the relay is about as fundamental as you can get—it uses a voltage to physically open and close a circuit. Early relays were far too slow and power hungry to compete with vacuum tubes, let alone transistors. But by using modern CMOS production processes, we think the relay can get a microscopic makeover.
via IEEE Spectrum
May 14, 2012
