ECE 510 Computer Design

Homework #1
Saliya Kumara K. (1773937)

1. Determine the total number of levels of copper wiring in IBMs 90 nm process.

8 levels of copper wiring
2. What is the dirty little secret that threatens Moores Law?
As the transistors in a chip get smaller and switch faster, the metal interconnectors have to
get narrower to keep the design compact. However as the interconnectors get narrower, it
slows down the signal propagation. Fast transistors have to send signals in slow lines.
3. How many digital ICs are shown on the processor board of the Fuji A330 camera?
6 Digital ICs
4. How many digital ICs are shown in the Xbox 360 teardown (include clock generators as digital) ?
14 Digital ICs
5. If Apple sold 15M, 8G iPhones @ $199 in 2008, what is their gross profit if the COGS is the value
given in class?
COGS = $ 266/2 = $ 133
Gross profit from 1 phone = $199 $133 = $ 66
Gross profit from 15M phones = $ 66 * 15 M = $ 990M