Intel plans to tackle cosmic ray threat
Solving problems I didn't realize
we had.
Computer processor manufacturer Intel have revealed
details of a patent for protecting future generations of computers from the
growing threat of cosmic
rays.
The company has designed an on-chip cosmic ray detector to try to cope with the particles, which originate in space before sporadically entering the Earth’s atmosphere and going through everything they encounter.
“What happens is if a cosmic ray causes a collision inside the silicon chip, that releases lots of charged particles,” Intel’s senior scientist Eric Hannah told BBC World Service’s Digital Planet programme. “All our logic is based on charge, so it gets interference.”
The risk from cosmic rays may not be thought of as a big problem on a single computer with a single chip, as there is the potential for error only perhaps every several years.
But Mr Hannah explained that on a supercomputer with 10,000 chips, there was the potential for 10 or 20 faults a week. And the risk of cosmic ray interference will only increase as chips get smaller. This is because circuits will require less charge per switch to operate.
This actually is not a tinfoil hat moment.
All the folks I know who work with supercomputers - of course, can't talk to me about them. Might piss off Homeland Insecurity.
The company has designed an on-chip cosmic ray detector to try to cope with the particles, which originate in space before sporadically entering the Earth’s atmosphere and going through everything they encounter.
“What happens is if a cosmic ray causes a collision inside the silicon chip, that releases lots of charged particles,” Intel’s senior scientist Eric Hannah told BBC World Service’s Digital Planet programme. “All our logic is based on charge, so it gets interference.”
The risk from cosmic rays may not be thought of as a big problem on a single computer with a single chip, as there is the potential for error only perhaps every several years.
But Mr Hannah explained that on a supercomputer with 10,000 chips, there was the potential for 10 or 20 faults a week. And the risk of cosmic ray interference will only increase as chips get smaller. This is because circuits will require less charge per switch to operate.
This actually is not a tinfoil hat moment.
All the folks I know who work with supercomputers - of course, can't talk to me about them. Might piss off Homeland Insecurity.
Posted: Thu - April 10, 2008 at 10:48 PM