IEEE Spectrum: Semiconductors

New Schemes for Powering Processors

Building an on-chip high-voltage transmission grid is one way researchers think they could distribute power better

Long Live Bell Labs

The world's greatest engine of innovation still hums along, long after the car was taken off the road

The All-In-One Guitar Playing Robot and Game

Robots that can play games like Guitar Hero have been around for several years. But Intel and National Instruments have created a new demo that can run everything¿the game program and peripherals, the computer vision, and the robotic control¿from a single multicore processor.

New Math for Artificial Neurons

Floating-point processors in FPGAs make for artificial neurons quick enough to communicate with real ones

Ray tracing, Parallel Computing and a Bugatti Veyron

Thanks, Nvidia!

CPU, Heal Thyself

A fault-monitoring microprocessor design can save power or allow overclocking

Report: Sun Micro to Scrap Big Chip Project

The ambitious Rock multicore processor may now be as fractured as the computer firm itself

Semicon Industry Group Sees Hope After 2009

Semiconductor Industry Association predicts better times nearing

Engineers Evolve Transistors for Next-Gen Chips

Evolutionary algorithms lead to new logic and memory that may smooth the way as CMOS nears its size limits

The Truth About Bender's Brain

David X. Cohen, of "Futurama," reveals how MOS Technology's 6502 processor ended up in the robot's head

Slideshow: The Many Facets of Microchips

NOW WE’RE TALKING

The Speak & Spell was a learning toy that Texas Instruments created using its TMC0281, the first single-chip speech synthesizer. One of the hits of Christmas 1978, the toy was the brainchild of four TI engineers [from left]: Gene Frantz, Richard Wiggins, Paul Breedlove, and Larry Brantingham.

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A hand-drawn diagram, a long-forgotten memo, a photo of a Ferrari--intriguing images of chips and their creators

The Runners-up: More Earthshaking Chips

These 13 great little chips didn't make our list--mainly because we ran out of space in print. And, well, one isn't even a chip

Some Bright Spots in the Gloom

Where in the World Wide Web Is Al Phillips?

Back story

Thanks for the Memories

Laptops, workstations, PlayStations, iPhones--they would all be impossible without Robert Dennard's invention of DRAM

25 Microchips That Shook the World

A list of some of the most innovative, intriguing, and inspiring integrated circuits

Shrinking Possibilities

Lithography will need multiple strategies to keep up with the evolution of memory and logic

Spintronic Memristors

Researchers have made magnetic devices that act like the recently discovered fourth circuit element

Solid-State Circuits, in 3-D!

At this year's IEEE ISSCC, some 3-D integration technologies are ready to wear, while others will remain haute couture

Dream Jobs 09: Special Report

Building a solar-powered plane, creating stunning effects for Bollywood films, designing search-and-rescue robots--it's not just a job, it's engineering