NEC announces new technology to reduce LSI power consumption

Telecomworldwire, June 30, 2008

TELECOMWORLDWIRE-30 June 2008-NEC announces new technology to reduce LSI power consumption(C)1994-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

NEC Corporation, a provider of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions, has announced the development of a new technology that is able to 'visualize' the thermal distribution and reduce the power consumption of LSI.

According to the company, the new technology features a large number of thermal sensors, 1/10 the size of previously available sensors, which are located throughout the LSI, and convert temperature changes into digital signals that enable the heat distribution of the LSI to be 'visualized' in real-time. The miniaturization of the thermal sensors enables them to be widely distributed throughout the LSI. The sensors calculate temperatures by measuring leakage currents from transistors through miniature conversion circuits that convert leakage currents to digital signals.

The technology reportedly means that independent local measures can be taken on specific regions of an LSI chip in order to control heat, which allows tasks to be delegated to less active areas of a chip, in this way reducing the total amount of electricity required for operations and lessening the environmental impact.

The widespread use of devices equipped with the technology and LSI multi-cores will result in greater optimization of clock-frequency, data processing and voltage levels, which will deliver a 20-50% reduction in the power consumption of LSI devices, the company claims.

No financial details were disclosed.

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