Assume that a switching component such as a transistor can switch in zero time. We propose to construct a disk-shaped computer chip with such a component. The only limitation is the time it takes to send electronic signals from one edge of the chip to the other. Make the simplifying assumption that electronic signals can travel at 300,000 km/s. What is the limitation on the diameter of a round chip so that any computation result can by used anywhere on the chip at a clock rate of 1 GHz? What are the diameter restrictions if the whole chip should operate at 1 THz = 10 ¹² Hz? Is such a chip feasible?

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A clock rate of lGHz corresponds to 1 nsec processing time F... View the full answer