Energy-Efficient Computing tagged posts

The massive growth of data centers that consume enormous amounts of energy has contributed significantly to power shortages worldwide. With rising demand for faster and more intelligent computers and devices, there is a pressing need to develop alternatives to traditional electronic components that will make these devices more energy-efficient.

In two recent studies, researchers at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), IISc, report the development of a highly energy-efficient computing platform that offers promise in building next-generation electronic devices.

Instead of using complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) which are the building blocks of most electronic circuits today, th...

Top: High-resolution electron microscopy images of a nickel silicide rhombic nanocrystal embedded in a silicon nanowire prepared with gold silicide used as a catalyst. The images demonstrate the intimate interactions that arise at the interfaces of these nanomaterials. Bottom: The physical properties that arise from such complex nano-systems could be used in next-generation photodetectors, lasers, and transistors.

Scientists have tailored extremely small wires that carry light and electrons which could open up a potential path to smaller, lighter, or more efficient devices. This development could lead to highly tailored nanowires for new classes of high-performance, energy-efficient computing, communications, and environmental and medical sensing systems...

A team of physicists has taken pictures of a theorized but previously undetected magnetic wave, which offers the potential to be an energy-efficient means to transfer data in electronics. “This is an exciting discovery because it shows that small magnetic waves–known as spin-waves–can add up to a large one in a magnet, a wave that can maintain its shape as it moves,” explains NYU Prof Andrew Kent. “A specialized x-ray method that can focus on particular magnetic elements with very high spatial resolution enabled this discovery and should enable many more insights into this behavior.”

To push the limits of energy efficiency in the future we need to understand better how magnetic devices behave on fast timescales at the nanoscale, which is why we are using this dedicated ultrafast x-ra...