ChipEx2014 Summary: Bitcoin Mining Using 20nm Chips, The End of Moore's Law and the Internet of Things

A first-of-its-kind technological collaboration led by the Israeli company AST resulted in the development of the world's first bitcoin chip in 20 nm technology, which was presented at the ChipEx2014 conference and exhibition that took place last week in Tel Aviv. In a panel hosted by senior leaders in the chip industry from around the world, the speakers referred to the various post-Silicon era technologies, but according to them we are still exhausting Moore's Law to the fullest

The Israeli company AST last week introduced the world's fastest chip used to cushion Bitcoin coins. The development was revealed for the first time at the ChipEx2014 conference - the annual conference of the microelectronics industry in Israel. About 1,300 people from the Israeli chip industry participated in the conference, and 50 professional lecturers from Israel and the world lectured.

This is a development that was born following the request of a Swedish company called KnCMiner. The company engaged in the production of machines that test and produce the Bitcoin currency realized that one of the central indicators of its success depends on its ability to deliver the machines in the fastest way to the market. After tests and searches all over the world, the Swedish company turned to the Israeli company AST and asked it to commit to providing the chip and the card needed to create the Bitcoin machine within three months. AST responded to the challenging schedule and in collaboration with the Taiwanese company AlChip, the three companies managed to design, manufacture and ship a bitcoin machine that arrived to the customer within three months since the project began! Since then, AST and Alchip have carried out another project, this time with 20 nm technology. The achievement of AST and Alchip companies is especially impressive in light of the fact that it is considered the fastest process of developing and creating a chip with 20 nm technology at any time.

In a conversation with three of the executives who participated in the conference, we tried to understand what the technologies are that will improve or even replace the current chip technologies, now that Moore's Law seems inapplicable.

Sanjiv Kaskar, Chairman of the Indian Electronics and Chip Industries Association (IESA), that the CMOS technology is close to the end and the one who will preserve it in the coming years will be the XNUMXD chip technology and in the more distant future developments in the field of nanotechnology.

Kaskar: "The upgrade of the standard CMOS technology is very close to the end, and the solution that stands out as the leading solution in the near term is the XNUMXD chip technology, which is still in the first stages of its expansion. Research into alternative materials such as graphene for example can give us fast, good and efficient alternatives to the silicon currently used in chips. Technologies of this type will be the key to the stability of the microelectronics market."

Dr. Stylianos Mamagkakis, Strategic Business Development Manager at Samsung Semiconductor Europe answers the same question: "It is still too early to define an answer. However, Samsung invests its resources and activates research efforts to develop the chip technologies of the next generation. One of these activities was demonstrated in an advanced synthesis method of graphene by the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) in collaboration with Sungkunkwan University in South Korea. It would still be too early to discuss the commercialization of the technology."

Gary Fathon, vice president of IBM and director of the chip research and development center, in the systems and technology group: "Moore's law continues to be relevant. Upgrading silicon through increased density still provides significant price reductions. However, in order to achieve the cost/benefit ratio and maintain the continued price reduction in the future, we are required to install new capabilities and innovative scaling techniques. The industry is in an exciting period of reinvention in areas such as EUV imaging (extreme violet imaging), non-planar transistors such as FINFETs, new packaging approaches such as 2.5 and 3 dimensions, and a re-examination of our design approaches, in particular in the BEOL area with the aim of improving the density of mutual ties."

The next question the researchers were asked was what is the next development in the Internet of Things and what is required to reach a networked world of machines.
Kaskar: "The Internet is widespread everywhere, mobility is also widespread - everyone has a mobile device, and eventually every object in the world will be connected. We are already seeing this in the so-called 'Internet of Things' (IOT) and wearable computing devices. This connectivity will create a huge volume of data and a lot of traffic. Today's infrastructure is not built to meet this challenge, and therefore a general overhaul of the communication infrastructure, data centers and more will be required for fast and reliable access."
Mamagkakis: "The Internet of Things (IoT) means the connection of devices both with each other and with the sharing of cloud technologies to continue processing the data. Therefore, the next developments must be to improve connectivity and cloud infrastructure. Samsung supports the connected world by providing DRAM and flash memory solutions, as well as wireless connectivity products."
Fathon: "We are already there. Wearable devices will change the way humans communicate and learn about their environment. Starting with medical information such as heart rate, through self-driving cars, walking/running/riding tracking and many other applications. These devices are already changing the way we live. The main technological driver is simple - data. The amount of data is growing at an exponential rate, and the question of how to store, access and handle this data is driving a large number of technological innovations. For example: cloud computing and remote data centers, radio controllers, and end devices such as cell phones."

How do you see the collaboration between academia and industry, and what is needed to improve the relationship?

Fathon: "IBM has always worked closely with academia, starting with doctoral students conducting research in its facilities through providing grants and sponsorships to students, to the successful collaboration we have with the State University of New York and the College of Nanoscience and Engineering (CNSE). The model of joint research and collaborations with CNSE produced the necessary breakthroughs for 10 and 7 nm technology, thanks to the skills of the college students and IBM employees."

Kaskar: "In India, we feel a gap between the skills required by the existing industry and what the students learn in colleges, and therefore we will establish a "core initiative" within the framework of IESA to answer the issue, when the working group will define curricula, train the lecturers, implement internship programs, and direct research from the industry to the academy, so that the cooperation between the academy and the industry will improve and this will be done to the benefit of both parties."

Mamagkakis "I have a personal background working at IMEC's ​​R&D center for about a decade, and my personal opinion is that production and ecosystem alliances are the way to advance in the field of R&D in the return industry. This is also the opinion of Samsung, which is a member of IMEC and Sematech. The academy must take part in these alliances both by directly helping the development efforts of its partners and the manufacturing industry. in these alliances through the coordination of advanced R&D against the corresponding roadmaps of the alliances."

Shlomo Gerdman, general chairman of ChipEx2014, said: "In light of the sharp increase in recent years in the development and production expenses of advanced technologies on the one hand and the growing demand of consumers to lower product prices, we have decided to focus this year on technologies and tools that allow the work of development and production engineers in the industry to be improved and become more efficient in a significant way. The ChipEx2014 conference has become a household name in the global industry, so this year too many experts and suppliers came to Israel especially to take part in the conference.