The Once and Future Computer: Post-Moore Mechanical Circuits Matthew Spencer BEARS Symposium Lightning Talk

Difference Engine (1842)

ENIAC (1946)

Power Prediction vs. Time (c. 2000)

CMOS Minimum Energy/Op E leakage E dynamic E total V DD (V) Normalized Energy/op /throughput Normalized Energy/op 1x 2x8x More parallelism does not help Transistor E/op vs. Supply Voltage Processor E/op vs. Operating Frequency

Back to Mechanics: Improvement? Poly-SiGe Tungsten Measured I-V Curve 1 mV Measurement Noise Floor V S = V B = 0 V D = −14 V G (V) −12 10 −10 10 −8 10 −6 10 −4 I DS (A) Energy vs. V DD E total = E dynamic V DD (V) Normalized E/op E dynamic E total

Circuit Design Covers Device Flaws Problem: Mechanical motion is slow Solution: Arrange relay circuits w/ only 1 delay 1 mechanical delay NEMS: 12 relays 4 gate delays CMOS: 30 transistors

CLICKR6 (2013) CLICKR2 (2010) Mechanical Circuits Could Be In Your Computer In 10 Years.