Engineering limits on computer performance

MAY 01, 1984

The astounding progress in microelectronics, which has fueled the rapid growth in computer performance, is finally beginning to approach fundamental physical limits; henceforth computer architecture will become more important.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2916240

Charles L. Seitz

Juri Matisoo

Although the title of our article addresses engineering limits, we do not mean to convey a grim outlook. Over the past 20 years, the technology of computer systems has advanced dramatically in terms of performance, cost and reliability. There is every reason to expect this advance to continue, at a rate almost as shocking as we have experienced to date. However, the advance already achieved has pushed the mechanisms of switching, storage and communication close enough to fundamental physical limits to bring into awareness for the first time limitations in the engineering of high‐performance systems.

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More about the authors

Charles L. Seitz, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California.

Juri Matisoo, Thomas J. Watson Research Center, International Business Machines Corporation, Yorktown Heights, New York.