91快色

Computer transistors have hit the wall. In the ongoing quest to make computers more powerful and efficient, engineers have shrunk transistors to the size of a common bacteria, and there simply isn鈥檛 a way to reduce them any further. So Laleh Behjat, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Schulich, is developing new ways to reorganize transistors, fitting even more of them onto a computer chip.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like planning a big city,鈥� says Behjat. 鈥淲hen you have two billion transistors on a chip, you want to be sure it鈥檚 compact and efficient. You want lots of roads, but not too much traffic.鈥�

Planning for efficiency
Decreasing traffic means increasing efficiency. Today鈥檚 computers tend to overheat as they鈥檙e asked to run faster and faster. Then the computer鈥檚 power-intensive fan turns on, putting even more demand on the battery. 鈥淚f we can make computers use less power,鈥� says Behjat, 鈥渢he battery will last longer, you鈥檒l use less energy and the computer will last longer.鈥�

Behjat鈥檚 goal is to pack transistors inside a computer so they take up less space. As a result, they鈥檒l produce less heat, take up less area, and use less power. To achieve that goal, Behjat and two of her graduate students are developing complicated mathematical techniques that optimize transistor placement and wire routing. 鈥淲e have up to 12 layers of roads on top of each other,鈥� says Behjat.

A winning strategy
Behjat鈥檚 team took their strategy to the  (ISPD), an Intel-sponsored gate-sizing competition that challenges entrants to optimize circuit design.  The Schulich team was one of only ten that successfully completed the challenge, and they were the only Canadian team to finish.

Behjat鈥檚 approach to transistor traffic control is unique, and it鈥檚 working. 鈥淣o one else in world is doing it,鈥� says Behjat. 鈥淎nd these techniques are helping us find better solutions.鈥�