Parallel programming may not be so daunting
“Lock-free” parallel algorithms may match performance of more complex “wait-free” algorithms.
Smarter caching
Cleverer management of the local memory banks known as ‘caches’ could improve computer chips’ performance while reducing their energy consumption.
How to program unreliable chips
A new language lets coders reason about the trade-off between fidelity of execution and power or time savings in the computers of the future.
Managing multicore memory
MIT research shows that it may be time to let software, rather than hardware, manage the high-speed on-chip memory banks known as ‘caches.’
Research update: New microchip sorts white blood cells from whole blood
Device may be used to quickly detect signs of sepsis, other inflammatory diseases.
Detecting DNA in space
Researchers, in a step toward analyzing Mars for signs of life, find that gene-sequencing chip can survive space radiation.
Surprising turns in magnetic thin films could lead to better data storage
MIT researchers discover efficient control of magnetism in chiral ferromagnets.
MIT researchers build Quad HD TV chip
A new video standard enables a fourfold increase in the resolution of TV screens, and an MIT chip was the first to handle it in real time.
Chips that can steer light
Record-setting ‘optical phased arrays’ could lead to better laser rangefinders, smaller medical-imaging devices and even holographic TVs.
Researchers demonstrate record-setting p-type transistor
New design for a basic component of all computer chips boasts the highest ‘carrier mobility’ yet measured.
Tiny compound semiconductor transistor could challenge silicon’s dominance
MIT researchers develop the smallest indium gallium arsenide transistor ever built.
Research update: Chips with self-assembling rectangles
New technique allows production of complex microchip structures in one self-assembling step.
New chip captures power from multiple sources
System developed at MIT could combine power harvested from light, heat and vibrations to run monitoring systems.
Simulating tomorrow’s chips
A new system makes hardware models of multicore chips more efficient, easier to design and more reliable.