– What is limiting computer processors to operate beyond the current range of clock frequencies (from 3 to up 5GHz)?
In: Engineering
The speed is limited in part by capacitance, which you have to charge up for an amount of time to get to a desired voltage. Making the parts smaller also makes the capacitance go down, so they can run faster. Of course, insulation barriers can’t handle as much voltage, so working voltages go down. At some point, you can’t work with barriers that are thinner or voltages that are lower. That is a big reason that multiple cores are so popular now, one core at 5GHz can’t do as much work as two cores at 3MHz if you can partition the work effectively.
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