Intel takes on power leakage for PDAs and phones

Intel is developing a new technology that aims to enable a 65 nanometre ultra mobile chips for mobile phones or PDAs such as Intel's current Xscale. The first chips are expected by 2007.

Without the new technology, "the battery would run out in five minutes," Mark Bohr, a senior fellow for logic technology development told vnunet.com.

The company is developing a new technology dubbed p1265 for 65nm ultra low power processors. It aims to cut the loss from power leakage in chips for mobile phones and PDAs by 99.9 per cent. This is set to provide mobile processors with a more acceptable level of power consumption.

Bohr declined to comment on the feasibility of introducing a 65nm model of Intel's Xscale mobile processor without the new technology, but he did say that the technology would make "a compelling proposition for an Xscale kind of product".

Intel's Xscale mobile processor targets handheld computers and mobile telephones.

The p1265 technology is based on the p1264 production process that is used for Intel's current generation 65nm processors that started shipping earlier this year. The chip maker declined to give a projected introduction date for the new technology, but said that it typically takes two years to develop and launch such chips.

Leakage is wasted power that 'leaks' through the components inside the transistors on a chip. While leakage is a known phenomenon, it is threatening to get out of control for low power 65nm mobile processors because those chips feature smaller components and significantly more processors than previous models.

A typical desktop processor wastes about 25 per cent of its power due to leakage, said Bohr. A current generation mobile processor wastes up to 90 per cent and puts only 10 per cent to good use. The forthcoming Intel technology doesn't aim to improve this ratio, but is set to keep a 65nm mobile chip in line with the those existing leakage rates.

Intel plans to accomplish the power savings by making design adjustments to the transistors, including the introduction of impurities to the silicon. While this impacts on overall chip performance, the power savings are worth it, argued Bohr.

"You do pay a performance penalty," Bohr said, "but it’s a very good price to pay for an ultra low power processor."