Changing Trends in Computer Architecture : A Comprehensive Analysis of ARM and x86 Processors

In the modern world, we use microprocessors which are either based on ARM or x86 architecture which are the most common processor architectures. ARM originally stood for ‘Acorn RISC Machines’ but over the years changed to ‘Advanced RISC Machines’. It was started as just an experiment but showed promising results and now it is omnipresent in our modern devices. Unlike x86 which is designed for high performance, ARM focuses on low power consumption with considerable performance. Because of the advancements in the ARM technology, they are becoming more powerful than their x86 counterparts. In this analysis we will collate the two architectures briefly and conclude which microprocessor will dominate the microprocessor industry. The processor which will perform better in different tests will be more suitable for the reader to use in their application. The shift in the industry towards ARM processors can change how we write softwares which in turn will affect the whole software development environment.

Industrial Use of ACL2: Applications, Achievements, Challenges, and Directions

Industrial applications of interactive theorem proving dates back to the eighties. Enabling and achieving industrial successes has been an important focus of the ACL2 community. The ARCADE call-for-papers appears to ignore these results and the potential of automated reasoning in industry in the future. We briefly describe the penetration of the ACL2 theorem proving system into the microprocessor industry, list some of milestones achieved, the obstacles standing in the way, and some future research directions.

GME of MPEG-4 on Multicore Processors

Multicore processor systems are leading the microprocessor industry today. This has placed more pressure upon programmers to write parallel programs that wisely balance load among cores on the same system and optimize performance. On the other hand, the video-form of data is getting more and more importance. Video is the fuel for many contemporary Internet applications like YouTube. Video is the most storage and bandwidth-hungry type of data, especially in the context of new video applications like HDTV and IPTV. Exploiting video compression manifests itself in real-time applications. In light of this, it is important to bring to practice parallelized video codecs programmed to run on multicore systems. In this paper, the authors concentrate on one aspect of the MPEG-4 video codec, the global motion estimation and compensation. They present a parallel implementation for MPEG-4 global motion estimation and compensation on multicore processors and provide a detailed performance evaluation under various scenarios.

Ex-Situ "Auto Lift" Technique for TEM Sample Preparation

"The most advantageous feature of the ex-situ lift out method is throughput."A great deal of emphasis is placed on "throughput" in the microprocessor industry. Wafer sizes are getting larger and the costs of building them have increased astronomically. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) has become the essential tool for examining current microprocessor products. The TEM can only be effective if it has properly prepared specimens to put into it. In order to achieve the highest specimen preparation spatial resolution, the microprocessor industry has turned to focused ion beam (FIB) tools, either single or dual column, for TEM specimen preparation in applications ranging from process control to failure analysis, and on to semiconductor device metrology.

The Total Release Method for FIB In-Situ TEM Sample Preparation

In 1965, Gordon Moore forecast that the microprocessor industry would continually scale to smaller feature sizes and the number of transistors would double every 18 months. Scaling below the 100nm node, combined with the implementation of copper and low dielectric constant insulators to increase the processor speed, has produced the situation in which SEM inspection no longer offers suitable resolution to image key artifacts and structures. The transmission electron microscope (TEM), once considered more of a development tool, is now in the forefront for process control and failure analysis, especially for measurements such as the thickness of semiconductor device non-planar barrier and seed layers