Posted March 23rd 2008 1:37PM

Researchers at MIT and Texas Instruments have designed a new chip for portable electronics that could be up to 10 times more energy-efficient than present technology. Given its reduced power consumption, the new chip could lead to cell phones, handheld computers, and remote sensors that last far longer when running from a battery.

Indeed, the power required could be so low that implantable medical devices such as pacemakers and health monitors could be powered indefinitely by a person's body heat or motion -no battery needed.
According to Anantha Chandrakasan [MTL - Sub-Threshold Circuits Group], the key to the improvement in energy efficiency was finding ways to make the circuits on the chip work at a voltage level much lower than usual. While most current chips operate at around 1.0 volt, the new design works at just 0.3 volts.

Read more.

xpost - ofpblog computers