Caltech Potato Chips (1996)

Blast from the past! If you think this kind of less traditional circuit design is cool, you should also check out some of the more recent stuff in low-power asynchronous architectures:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;vlsi.cornell.edu&#x2F;research.php" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;vlsi.cornell.edu&#x2F;research.php</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.stanford.edu&#x2F;group&#x2F;brainsinsilicon&#x2F;neurogrid.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.stanford.edu&#x2F;group&#x2F;brainsinsilicon&#x2F;neurogrid.htm...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;paulmerolla.com&#x2F;merolla_main_som.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;paulmerolla.com&#x2F;merolla_main_som.pdf</a>

TI famously brags (and has videos demonstrating) that you can power an MSP430 off a lemon.

In the <i>Portal 2</i> video game where the main character throws the erstwhile antagonist (now uneasy ally) GLaDOS computer &quot;chip&quot; into a potato, is that joke connected to this at all?

<i>By comparison, today&#x27;s (January 1996) state-of-the art technologies have feature sizes of about 0.25 microns.</i><p>And today (November 2015), chips manufactured on 14 nanometer (0.014 micron) processes are shipping in volume.

Well, that was certainly an enriching read.<p>More seriously, we&#x27;ve done this before. Old Usenet thread about asynchronous PDP-10s and PDP-6s:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;alt.sys.pdp10&#x2F;wqWlZQ6m9Ew" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;groups.google.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;#!topic&#x2F;alt.sys.pdp10&#x2F;wqWlZQ...</a>

So the processor computation rate increases&#x2F;decreases as voltage does? This could have interesting applications, such as a treadmill that allows you to compute (run games? watch videos?) more the faster you run, or a phone that gradually decreases the power supply to its processor to conserve power as its battery loses charge.

Do not confuse with Potato Semiconductors, which make famous high-speed chips: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.potatosemi.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.potatosemi.com&#x2F;</a><p>Sadly, I&#x27;ve never had the chance to try these Potato chips.

More at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10612349" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=10612349</a>.

&quot;that&#x27;s two potatoes in series&quot; - rarely one comes across such a combination of words. I&#x27;m still laughing.

Funny, I still have all that exact test equipment shown in the photos, with the exception of the meter in the upper right.

&quot;Sorry for the long post, here&#x27;s a potato.&quot; That must be one of the earliest examples of that meme!