[comp.arch] GaA

tmandadi@uoregon.uoregon.edu (tilak mandadi) (12/22/88)

 Can somebody explain me why we can't have on chip cache in RISCs using
 GaA technology ? thanks.
 

lindsay@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Donald Lindsay) (12/22/88)

In article <3417@uoregon.uoregon.edu> tmandadi@uoregon.uoregon.edu (tilak mandadi) writes:
> Can somebody explain me why we can't have on chip cache in RISCs using
> GaA technology ? thanks.

If you mean gallium arsenide (GaAs), then the answer is that it isn't
available yet.

This is a very exciting year for GaAs fans. Several players have just
announced gate arrays at the 10,000 gate level. That's enormous by the
standards of a year or two ago.  Getting the technology into production
just took a lot more struggle than some of us predicted.

In time, someone (or lots of people) will build the chip you asked for.
There's no reason why 500 MHz isn't achievable. But you'll have to wait.
-- 
Don		lindsay@k.gp.cs.cmu.edu    CMU Computer Science
-- 

landman%hanami@Sun.COM (Howard A. Landman) (12/28/88)

In article <3417@uoregon.uoregon.edu> tmandadi@uoregon.uoregon.edu (tilak mandadi) writes:
> Can somebody explain me why we can't have on chip cache in RISCs using
> GaA technology ? thanks.

Yield decays exponentially with chip area (at the upper limit).  Current
GaAs fabrication doesn't allow economical production of chips that complex.

Give it a few more years.

	Howard A. Landman
	landman@hanami.sun.com