The Physics of Computing 1st Edition

Marilyn Wolf
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/the-physics-of-computing-1st-edition-marilyn-wolf/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Night of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #28.5) 1st Edition

Spear

https://ebookmass.com/product/night-of-the-wolf-heart-of-the-
wolf-28-5-1st-edition-spear/

Physics and Technology of Sustainable Energy E. L. Wolf

https://ebookmass.com/product/physics-and-technology-of-
sustainable-energy-e-l-wolf/

Season of the Wolf Maria Vale

https://ebookmass.com/product/season-of-the-wolf-maria-vale/

On Marilyn Monroe: An Opinionated Guide Richard Barrios

https://ebookmass.com/product/on-marilyn-monroe-an-opinionated-
guide-richard-barrios/
On Marilyn Monroe Richard Barrios

https://ebookmass.com/product/on-marilyn-monroe-richard-barrios/

Measuring the Business Value of Cloud Computing 1st ed.

Edition Theo Lynn

https://ebookmass.com/product/measuring-the-business-value-of-
cloud-computing-1st-ed-edition-theo-lynn/

The Physics of Everyday Phenomena _ a Conceptual

Introduction to Physics (2022) TENth Ed 10th Edition
The Physics Of Everyday Phenomena : A Conceptual
Introduction To Physics
https://ebookmass.com/product/the-physics-of-everyday-phenomena-
_-a-conceptual-introduction-to-physics-2022-tenth-ed-10th-
edition-the-physics-of-everyday-phenomena-a-conceptual-
introduction-to-physics/

Productizing Quantum Computing: Bring Quantum Computing

Into Your Organization 1st Edition Dhairyya Agarwal

https://ebookmass.com/product/productizing-quantum-computing-
bring-quantum-computing-into-your-organization-1st-edition-
dhairyya-agarwal/

Quantum Computing: A New Era of Computing Kuldeep Singh

Kaswan

https://ebookmass.com/product/quantum-computing-a-new-era-of-
computing-kuldeep-singh-kaswan/
The Physics of Computing

Marilyn Wolf

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON

NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO
SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
Morgan Kaufmann is an imprint of Elsevier
Preface
This book is an attempt to take a step back and provide a longer, more foundational
view of computer engineering. While a lot of software design proceeded from the
theoretical to the experimentaldthink about sorting, for exampledcomputer system
design has long taken an example-driven approach. Studying particular computer
systems was useful in the early days when we were not quite sure what major concepts
undergirded the design of these systems. But today we are much more capable of
making generalized statements about many topics in computer engineering. Those
foundational topics should form the core of our approach to computer engineering.
A foundational approach to digital systems is particularly important because it is
so hard today to touch and see logic in operation. When I was a student, most systems
were boards made of SSI and MSI logic. We had no choice but to deal with circuits
and waveforms. Today, all that is hidden inside a chip; even boards have smaller wires
and are harder to analyze. Many students today think that 1s and 0s float through
chipsdthey have no conception of voltages and currents in computers.
This book does not ask students to design anything. Instead, we walk students
through the principles that define the computer system design space. I like to think
of the concepts in this course as knobs and meters on a control panel. Changing the
settings of knobs change the values on the meters; the twist of one knob may change
several meters. Consider, for example, the cascading effects of reducing MOS dielec-
tric thickness: transistor transconductance changes, which in turn affects gate delay
for the better and leakage current for the worse.
Engineers do not design systems in a vacuum. Instead, they design to a set of goals
or requirements. The traditional goal for computer architects is performance, or more
precisely throughput. But computers are actually designed with several other goals in
mind, with energy/power and reliability paramount. Performance, energy, and reli-
ability all have their roots in physical phenomenon. And they are inextricably linked
by physics: improving one metric incurs costs in the other metrics. As in the rest of
life, there is no free lunch in computer design.
Computer engineering is a relatively young field. Introductory courses have
concentrated on building and taxonomydbuild something, see the different ways
to build something. As the field matures, it is time to start thinking about new ways
to present the basics. The biologist E.O. Wilson said, “A field is initially defined by
the questions it asks and eventually defined by the answers it provides.” After 70 years
of electronic computer engineering, it is time to start thinking of the field in terms of
answers.
I have been thinking about computer design for a long time. Performance was for
many years the paramount metric for computer design, although the ASIC world was
always interested in area as a proxy for cost. I started to think more seriously about
other fundamental limits, particularly power, for the class on pervasive information
systems taught by Perry Cook and myself. A new course at Georgia Tech gave me
the impetus to take this train of thought to its logical conclusion.

ix
x Preface

This course takes a broad view of both computer engineering and physics. Some of
the most basic phenomena in computer architecture and even software designdthe
memory wall, the power wall, the race to darkdare due to fundamental physics.
But the physics required to understand these major computational issues is much
more than classical Shockley semiconductor theory. We need to understand thermo-
dynamics, electrostatics, and good deal of circuit theory.
As I thought about this material, I came to regard Boltzmann’s constant is a key
concept. k pops up everywhere: the diode equation, Arrhenius’s equation, tempera-
ture, and the list goes on. Boltzmann’s constant links temperature and energy, so it
should not be a surprise that it is so tightly woven into the topics of this book.
Some of the material in this book is unique to modern CMOSdleakage mecha-
nisms. But some of the topics can be applied to a wide range of circuit and device
technologies. Delay through logic networks, metastability, and the fundamentals of
reliability are examples of foundational concepts that computer engineers should
understand even if CMOS is swept off the map by some other technology.
Parts of this book will probably strike some readers as hopelessly simplified and
compressed. I hope that those same readers will find other parts of the book dense and
hard to follow. The only way to understand how computers work is to understand the
relationships between an entire collection of topics that do not always seem at first
glance to be related. We know those knobs on the design process are linked because
a change to one parameter that we think will help our design often results in side
effects that negate much of the benefit we sought. I worked very hard to find the
simplest possible description for a lot of concepts. Hopefully they are presented in
a way that gives a basic understanding. The reader who is interested in a deeper under-
standing of one of these topics can pursue each one in more depth. But the singular
goal of this book is to provide a unified description of the fundamental physical prin-
ciples of computing machines.
Both computer engineers and electrical engineers are potential audiences for this
book. These two groups come to the material with very different backgrounds.
Computer engineers often have limited experience in circuit design. While they
may have some knowledge of ideas like Kirchhoff’s laws, they usually are not
extremely comfortable with circuit analysis. Electrical engineers may not always
have a detailed understanding of computer architecture. One of my challenges in
writing this book was to provide enough background for each audience without over-
loading them.
I have mentioned a number of historical discoveries and inventions for several
reasons. First, going through the sequence of ideas that led to today’s design practices
helps both to remind us that there is often more than one way to do things and to high-
light the true advantages of the methods that were settled upon by history. Second,
semiconductor physics and computer engineering have produced some of the most
important inventions of the 20th century. These inventions will be used for centuries
to come. We should not let ourselves become so accustomed to these ideas that we
lose all capacity to marvel at them and at their inventors.
 Preface xi

Richard Feynman’s Lectures on Computing was an early inspiration for this class,
but much of that book is devoted to quantum computing. That book does not consider
many topics in traditional computing. For example, metastability is a fundamental
physical concept in computer system design that Feynman does not touch. We salute
him for his early recognition of the physical nature of computing. We also thank him
for the Lectures on Physics, which provided a clear, concise way to think about many
of the basic physical phenomena that underlie computing.
Several tips of the hat are in order. My friend and colleague Saibal Mukhopodhyay
proposed the Physical Foundations of Computer Engineering course and provided
many concrete suggestions, particularly on reliability and leakage. My thanks go
out to him for his patience and insight. Dave Coelho graciously provided information
on his power distribution system. Kees Vissers invented the welder current compar-
ison. Alec Ishii advised me on clock distribution. Kevin Cao suggested how to
make best use of the Predictive Technology Models. Bruce Jacob gave insight into
DRAM. Srini Devadas’s suggestions led to the advanced topics appendix. Tom Conte
provided the core memory and Pentium Pro as well as many discussions on the present
state and future of computing. Thanks to the reviewers for their helpful comments.
And many thanks to my editor Nate McFadden for guiding this book through the
long development and production process. Any faults in this book can be traced
entirely and solely to me.

Marilyn Wolf
Atlanta, GA
The Physics of Computing
1st Edition
Author: Marilyn Wolf

eBook ISBN: 9780128096161

Paperback ISBN: 9780128093818
Published Date: 2nd November 2016
Page Count: 276

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. Electronic Computers
1.1. Introduction
1.2. The long road to computers
1.3. Computer system metrics
1.4. A tour of this book
1.5. Synthesis
Chapter 2. Transistors and Integrated Circuits
2.1. Introduction
2.2. Electron devices and electronic circuits
2.3. Physics of materials
2.4. Solid-state devices
2.5. Integrated circuits
2.6. Synthesis
Chapter 3. Logic Gates
3.1. Introduction
3.2. The CMOS inverter
3.3. Static gate characteristics
3.4. Delay
3.5. Power and energy
3.6. Scaling theory
3.7. Reliability
3.8. Synthesis
Chapter 4. Sequential Machines
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Combinational logic
4.3. Interconnect
4.4. Sequential machines
4.5. Synthesis
Chapter 5. Processors and Systems
5.1. Introduction
5.2. System reliability
5.3. Processors
5.4. Memory
5.5. Mass storage
5.6. System power consumption
5.7. Heat transfer
 5.8. Synthesis
Chapter 6. Input and Output
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Displays
6.3. Image sensors
6.4. Touch sensors
6.5. Microphones
6.6. Accelerometers and inertial sensors
6.7. Synthesis
Chapter 7. Emerging Technologies
7.1. Introduction
7.2. Carbon nanotubes
7.3. Quantum computers
7.4. Synthesis
Appendix A. Useful Constants and Formulas
Appendix B. Circuits
Appendix C. Probability
Appendix D. Advanced Topics
References
Index
 CHAPTER

Electronic Computers
1
1.1 Introduction
We take computers for granted. But what is a computer? The computers we use every
day can be summarized as EBT: electronic, binary, Turing machines. This combina-
tion of technologies has allowed us to conquer problems as diverse as weather fore-
casting, self-driving vehicles, and shopping.
But the path that led us to today’s computers is long, and the EBT approach to
computing is surprisingly recent. Some of the history helps us understand why we
build computers the way we do. Machines that could computedcalculate with
numbers and perform other multistep tasksdwere originally conceived of and built
with the only devices available, namely mechanical devices. These mechanical com-
puters had severe limitations that were overcome only with the creation of electronic
devices.
We will start with a brief introduction to the history of computing machines. We
will then discuss the theory of computing that was developed based on this early expe-
rience and which underpins our modern ideas of computers. We then discuss the met-
rics we use to evaluate computer designs and the trade-offs between these goals that
physics imposes on us. We will wrap up with a survey of the remainder of this book.

1.2 The long road to computers

Mechanical computation was inspired in large part by the need to control machines.
People could not react quickly and reliably enough to maintain the proper operation of
the equipment that appeared during the Industrial Revolution. Early mechanical
computing devices were analogdthey operated on continuous values. But machines
that manipulated discrete values arrived surprisingly early. Eventually, theory was
developed to describe these types of machines. One of those theories, the Turing
machine, is the blueprint for the way in which we design computers today.

The Physics of Computing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809381-8.00001-8

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1
2 CHAPTER 1 Electronic Computers

1.2.1 Mechanical computing devices

Mechanical devices are much older than electrical devices. The subtlety required to
make machines with complex behaviors should not be minimized. Those early inven-
tors lacked hardened metals with which to make both the machines themselves and
the tools required to shape the parts. They also lacked machine tools that we take
for granted today. Even relatively simple machines needed to be controlled without
human intervention. The invention of the steam engine spurred demand for automatic
control of machines.
Control The governor is a prime example of an early analog computer built from mechan-
ical components. James Watt, the inventor of the first practical steam engine, designed
a governor to control the speed of the steam engine, and similar devices had been used
before. He built his governor in 1788. Fig. 1.1 shows the operation of Watt’s governor.
The central shaft is rotated and is connected to the steam engine’s crankshaft. Two
shafts are hinged at the top, with a weight at the end of each. A set of levers connect
the weighted shafts to the engine’s throttledthe higher the weights, the more closed
the throttle. As the central shaft (and the engine’s crankshaft) rotates at higher
speed, the weights lift themselves up due to centrifugal force, causing the engine to
be throttled down. This mechanism implements negative feedback, a fundamental
principle in control.
Memory The Jacquard loom demonstrates an important concept, built with mechanical
elements, which would be fundamental to our modern conception of computers:
discrete memory. The loom, which was created in 1801, was invented to automate
the weaving of complex patterns in fabrics. It created a huge mass market for sophis-
ticated fabrics that previously had been available only to the very wealthy. As Fig. 1.2
shows, a fabric consists of threads in both x, known as the weft thread, and the warp
thread in y. The loom’s shuttle moves the warp thread back and forth. Lifting the weft
threads with small hooks known as bolus hooks selectively causes the warp thread to
be either above or below the weft, selecting when it will be visible. The more complex
the pattern, the more complex the patterns of thread liftings; a complex pattern could
lift hundreds of threads in a different pattern on each row. The Jacquard loom stored
that complex pattern in punched card: a hole in the card allowed the bolus hook to

throttle

FIGURE 1.1
A mechanical governor.
 1.2 The long road to computers 3

Warp

Weft

FIGURE 1.2
Operation of a Jacquard loom.

descend and grab its weft thread; no hole meant that the weft was not lifted at that
point. Not only could the card represent complex two-dimensional patterns, but the
entire fabric’s pattern could be changed simply by replacing the card.
Babbage machines Charles Babbage started work in 1822 on a difference machine to calculate
numbers, specifically to compute polynomial functions. His work was motivated by
the need to tables of functions that were more accurate than those compiled by
hand calculation, an error-prone process. At the heart of this machine’s operation is
the use of gears to count; this principle was also used in the mechanical calculators
that were widely used well into the second half of the 20th century. The basic principle
behind mechanical counting is simple and elegant, as shown in Fig. 1.3. We use a shaft
whose position represents the value of a digit in the counting sum. We can put a radial
mark on the end of each shaft, then a dial around the shaft with a position for each
digit; the mark points the value of the shaft’s digit. To build a two-digit counter, we
connect the two shafts with gears. In this figure, the small gear has 5 teeth and the
large gear has 15 teeth, giving a gearing ratio of 3:1. Three full rotations of the small
gear produce one complete rotation of the large gear. The large gear remembers the
number of teeth turned against it by the small gear up to a limit of 15. If we want
to count in base 10, we gear the shafts at a 10:1 ratio: 10 rotations of the ones-digit

5 teeth

15 teeth

FIGURE 1.3
Using gears to count.
4 CHAPTER 1 Electronic Computers

shaft result in one rotation of the tens-digit shaft. Now, as we turn the ones-digit shaft,
we can count either up or down.
Babbage later went on to design an analytical engine that had the essential ele-
ments of a modern computer but in mechanical form: input and output in the form
of punched cards (and even a plotter for output); a program memory that could
perform what we now know as branches and loops. But he never finished the construc-
tion of either his difference machine or the analytical engine.
Hollerith punch cards Herman Hollerith combined the idea of punched cards as memory with counting
machines. His tabulating machine [Hol88] punched holes at various locations in paper
cards to record data; the cards were similar to the cards of the Jacquard loom. He then
scanned decks of cards through electromechanical readers that counted the numbers
of holes at various locations. His machines were used to tabulate data for the 1890 US
Census. His company became one of the building blocks for the modern IBM
Corporation.
All these machines were great advances. The Jacquard loom and Hollerith’s tabu-
lation machines provided huge increases in productivity for important tasks. But in
retrospect, we can see some inherent problems with the use of mechanical devices
for computing that would ultimately limit how far this line of development could go:
• Mechanical components are relatively heavy and introduce noticeable friction.
Both these properties mean that we have to use substantial amounts of energy to
make them work. Even with today’s nanometer-scale electronic computers, energy
is a prime enemy.
• Mechanical components are also subject to wear, which introduces slop in the
connections between components. In the case of mechanical analog computers
such as the Watt regulator, the accuracy of the control law is limited by the
accuracy with which the mechanism can move. In the case of discrete systems
such as the Babbage engines, the mechanical components had to be accurately
aligned, and the complex organization of these devices meant that tolerances in
one part of the machine affect the tolerances elsewhere.

1.2.2 Theories of computing

Mathematical logic Mathematicians spent several centuries developing mathematical notation and
theories that freed them from the imprecision of written language. George Boole
introduced an algebra for logical expressions that we now know as Boolean algebra.
He developed laws for basic logical operations such as AND, OR, and NOT. One
simple way to describe a logical function is a truth table as shown in Fig. 1.4: the
left-hand columns enumerate the possible arguments to the function, and the right-
hand column gives the result for each. Boole’s mathematics is an algebra because
its rules are analogous to those of traditional numerical arithmetic.
Lambda calculus One of the important questions in mathematics at the start of the 20th century was
the nature of computingdwhat functions could be calculated? Mathematicians devel-
oped more than one answer to this question. Their answers turned out to be important
not just for theory but also to shape the organization of computing machines.
 1.2 The long road to computers 5

a b AND(a,b)
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
FIGURE 1.4
A Boolean truth table.

The first important theory of computing was developed by Alonzo Church of

Princeton University in the 1930s. His theory used functions known as lambda terms
to manipulate variables. This theory forms the basis for modern functional program-
ming; LISP and Prolog are two important languages that were inspired by Church’s
approach to computing.
Turing machines However, another theory ultimately proved to be more influential on the design of
electronic computers. In 1936, Alan Turing, who was Church’s student, published his
own theory of computing which we now know as the Turing machine. As shown in
Fig. 1.5, his formalism included several elements:
• An infinite tape divided into cells that can hold discrete values.
• A head that can read and write cells as well as move the tape in both directions.
• A set of rules in the head that tell it what to do based on the value of the cell
currently being read.
Turing proved that his machine was equivalent to Church’s lambda calculusdboth
could compute the same set of functions. But the notion of memory was key to the
transformation of theory to machines: the tape corresponds to the computer’s memory
(of course, physical machines had finite memory); the head corresponds to the CPU;
the directions for the head correspond to the program.
Turing’s theoretical model of the computing process bears significant similarities
to the computers we build today:
• They operate on discrete values.
• They operate in discrete time.
• They read and write values on a separate memory.

1
Action table
1

1
State 0

FIGURE 1.5
Organization of a Turing machine.
6 CHAPTER 1 Electronic Computers

Highlight 1.1
Turing machines operate on discrete values over discrete time.

Example 1.1: Everything I Need To Know About Mathematics I Learned

From Star TrekÔ
In the original series episode “Wolf in the Fold,” the entity Redjac took control of the Enter-
prise’s computer. Spock gave the computer a Class-A compulsory directory to compute p to
the last digit. The computer devoted all its resources to the computation, pushing out Redjac.
Spock explained the rationale for his command: “the value of p is a transcendental figure
without resolution.” Or, in computational terms, the procedure to compute p never terminates.

1.2.3 Electronic computers

Binary logic The design of electronic computers based on vacuum tubes was motivated by the
need for scientific calculation for World War II. John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry,
working at Iowa State University, built the electronic computer shown in Fig. 1.6.
Their machine embodied a critical design decision: the use of binary logic. One of

FIGURE 1.6
The Atanasoff-Berry computer.
Courtesy Special Collections/Iowa State University.
 1.2 The long road to computers 7

the key questions in the design of computers is how to use continuous physical values
to represent discrete values. While one could make circuits that manipulated discrete
values in several ways, they decided that the most reliable circuits used binary
coding: logical false or 0 and logical truth or 1. Circuits that tried to represent a larger
number of discrete values were more sensitive to noise. This allowed them to use
vacuum tube amplifiers to perform logical functions. They represented a logic 0 using
the negative power supply voltage and logic 1 as the positive power supply voltage. If
one of their logic circuits received an input at one of these values, the output voltages
would also be at one of these extremes. If the logic received a degraded voltage, either
slightly above the negative supply or below the positive supply, the amplifier would
drive it to the saturated value. Amplifying logic gates that push signals toward the
power supply rails is known as saturating logic. The Atanasoff-Berry computer
used a rotating drum to store data but it did not have a writable program store.
At Bell Labs, Claude Shannon developed a theory to optimize networks of
switches using Boolean algebra. He also experimented with using switching networks
for computation. He built an electromechanical mouse that used a hidden switching
network to learn how to run a maze.
The first programmable electronic computer was Colossus, built by Tommy
Flowers of the British Post Office Research Station to break German codes. After
WWII, work on computers continued and accelerated. The physicist John von
Neumann led an effort at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey,
to build a digital computer. He also proposed an influential model that we still call the
von Neumann machine. As shown in Fig. 1.7, his model divided the machine into
two distinct pieces: a central processing unit (CPU) and a separate memory that
holds both instructions and data.
Memory A key problem in early computing was storing values. A variety of technologies
were used. Mercury delay lines were commonly usedda bit was represented by a
pulse or the lack of a pulse transmitted down the tube. Delay lines act much like
what we now know as shift registers: data are entered at one end and come out at
the other end after a fixed delay. Reading a particular bit of memory required knowing
the current state of the memory and waiting until the desired bit came out. Storage for
more than one delay line period required resending the bit through the delay line.
Magnetic core memory was a key innovation because it allowed for random
access of all the memory locations. Fig. 1.8 shows a 32  32 bit core module. A
bit was stored in the orientation of the magnetic domain of the core. Row (x) and
column (y) lines allowed individual cores to be addressed. A shared sense/inhibit
line was used to sense the result of a read and to control the result of a write. Reading
was a destructive operationdthe value was wiped out during the read operation and
had to be rewritten. However, the wires through the cores had to be threaded manually,
making it impractical for large memories. Semiconductor memory ultimately took
over from core memory in large part because semiconductor memory could be
manufactured in large volumes.
Analog computers An alternative technology to digital was analog computation. Analog computers
saw more widespread use in the early days of computing and still have some uses
8 CHAPTER 1 Electronic Computers

address

memory CPU
data

FIGURE 1.7
Organization of a von Neumann machine.

Core memory module

Detail
FIGURE 1.8
A core memory.
 1.3 Computer system metrics 9

FIGURE 1.9
An analog music synthesizer.
Courtesy Moog Music, Inc.

today. A 1958 article describes a room-sized analog computer used to simulate the
operation of a DC-8 aircraft [Pre58]; the article explains that the circuits that simulate
the engines are on one printed circuit board and that a different type of engine can be
installed in the simulator by swapping circuit boards. Analog computers are still used
for music synthesis. The Moog synthesizer shown in Fig. 1.9 has circuits to generate
and filter signals. The parameters of these circuits are adjusted by the musician using
knobs. The circuits can be connected together in different ways using patch cords.

1.3 Computer system metrics

A computer system has to operate in a functionally correct manner but that is not suf-
ficient for most applicationsdthe computer must satisfy a number of other metrics
related to its physical characteristics. Several of the most important characteristics
of computer systems are directly related to their underlying physical principles:
• Performance: how fast does the computer run?
• Energy and power: how much energy is required to perform an operation?
• Thermal: how hot does the computer run?
• Reliability: how frequently does it give the wrong result?
These physical properties are important in themselves to the users of computers.
They are particularly important to computer system designers because we must
make trade-offs between desirable physical propertiesdthere is no free lunch.
A simple example of a design trade-off is performance versus energy. Although
gate delay is not the only factor in the execution speed of a processor, it is certainly
an important factor. For a given type of gate in a given circuit environment, the only
way to make that gate run faster is for it to consume more energy.
10 CHAPTER 1 Electronic Computers

Thermal properties have moved to the forefront of concerns for computer

designers. Much of the energy consumed by computers is dissipated by heat. Heat
can cause catastrophic failure, as evidenced by YouTube videos of CPUs catching
fire. But heat is much more likely to cause any number of less extreme failures.
Heat causes chips to age and wear out faster.
Reliability is a more subtle but critically important trade-off. Computations rely on
transforming the physical state of the machinedthe energy of electrons, magnetic
domains, etc. A number of physical phenomena can corrupt the result of a computa-
tion. We can reduce the effect of those disturbances by using more energy in the
system.
These trade-offs are sometimes made within the domain of physics. However, we
sometimes solve physics-based problems by other approaches at higher levels of
abstraction. For example, thermal and energy problems are both handled in part by
operating system mechanisms that monitor thermal and power consumption and
adjust the system’s operation accordingly.

1.4 A tour of this book

This book does not concern itself with the design of any particular computer. It instead
looks at the physical principles of computers at several levels of abstraction. Those
principles allow us to make particular design decisions. A good understanding of
physical principles is particularly important when making design trade-offs.
In the remaining chapters we will study the physics of computing from the
bottom up.
• Chapter 2 describes MOS transistors and integrated circuits. The characteristics of
transistors are the foundation of logic circuit design. We also need to understand
the structure of integrated circuits to understand topics such as interconnect.
• Chapter 3 uses the inverter to describe the physical principles of logic gates.
Although we use a number of different logic gates in practicedNAND, NOR,
etc.dconcentrating on the inverter allows us to explain the basic physical
properties of gates.
• Chapter 4 builds on our discussion of single logic gates to understand sequential
machines. The delay of a network gates is, unfortunately, not as simple to calculate
as adding together the gates in isolation. The properties of registers and clocks are
vitally important to our understanding of computer systems.
• Chapter 5 reaches our goal of understanding CPUs and computer systems. We look
at the memory wall, the power wall, clock distribution, and storage. Performance,
energy, thermal, and reliability all play critical roles in the design of systems.
• Chapter 6 describes a number of input and output devices. Multimedia and the
Internet-of-Things drive a great deal of the demand for computer systems. The
success of those areas depends on I/O devices such as image sensors, displays, and
accelerometers.
 Questions 11

• Chapter 7 looks at emerging technologies for computing, including carbon

nanotubes and quantum computers.
• The appendices provide reference material. Appendix A summarizes useful con-
stants and formulas. Appendix B covers some basic concepts in electrical circuits.
Appendix C describes some basic facts of probability. Appendix D covers a few
advanced topics on devices and circuits.

1.5 Synthesis
• Mechanical computers were used to control machines and also for purely
computational tasks.
• Early electronic computers used vacuum tubes, which were large, unreliable, and
power hungry.
• The physical design of computers is guided by the Turing and von Neumann
models: separate memory and processor; a distinction between data and program;
discrete values; discrete time.
• The physical properties of computer systems are some of its key characteristics.
Performance, energy, thermal, and reliability are all directly determined by the
physics of computing.
• Desirable physical characteristics must be traded off against each other in the
design of computers.

Questions
Q1-1 Can we build the infinite memory of the Turing machine? What are the effects
of a finite memory on the conclusions we can draw about Turing machines?
Q1-2 A machine can move its tape forward but not backward. Is it Turing complete?
Explain.
Q1-3 Encode each of these numbers into unsigned binary form. The subscripts give
the base of the number.
(a) 4010
(b) 408
(c) 10010
(d) 1008
Q1-4 Does operating at higher temperatures make a computer less likely or more
likely to fail? Explain.
Q1-5 Do computers that burn more power generally run faster? Explain.
 CHAPTER

Transistors and Integrated

Circuits
2
2.1 Introduction
This chapter concentrates on the physics of electron devices and their most prolific
embodiment, the integrated circuit. We will start with a brief survey of the history
of electron devices and some basic concepts in physics. With that background in
mind, we will dive into the characteristics of several electron devicesdthe MOS
capacitor, diode, and MOSFETdas then go onto integrated circuits.

2.2 Electron devices and electronic circuits

Electron devices rely on the specific properties of electron, such as charge. Electrical
currents can be easily modeled as fluid flows. In contrast, electron devices such as the
transistor rely on much more complex properties and interactions.
The first electron devices were built from vacuum tubes. The limitations of those
devicesdtheir bulk, fragility, and power consumptiondultimately led to the inven-
tion of their replacement, the transistor.

2.2.1 Early vacuum tube devices

Patent Amazingly, work on the devices that allowed us to move from mechanical to elec-
tronic computation started before the discovery of the electron in 1897. The history
of electronic devices started with Thomas Edison. Edison put a great deal of effort
into the incandescent lamp, which ran an electric current through a small filament
to heat it, resulting in the filament glowing and emitting light; the filament was oper-
ated in a vacuum bulb to slow its deterioration. In 1883, he experimented with adding
an additional plate inside the bulb and noticed that he could measure a current
between the filament and the plate, but only in one direction [Edi84]. As shown in
Fig. 2.1, the filament is connected to a battery to heat it while the plate is connected
to its own battery. If the battery is connected to the plate with the polarity shown in the
figure, a current is conducted; if the battery is connected in the opposite polarity, no
current flows. Others named the underlying physical phenomenon the Edison Effect.
The Physics of Computing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809381-8.00002-X
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
13
14 CHAPTER 2 Transistors and Integrated Circuits

(No Model.)
T. A. EDISON.
ELECTRICAL INDICATOR.

No. 307,031. Patented Oct. 21, 1884.

j
i g

h h

B
f d
Fig.1.

e
m d
i k
c
c'
h b
A 5 C

3 3 3 3 3
1
a a a a
2
4 4 4 4 4
5

A A' Fig.2.
d e

3
1
a a a
2
4

e d
A Fig.3.
b p d
o
p
Fig.4.

plate +

filament
+

Edison Effect circuit

FIGURE 2.1
Operation of an Edison Effect device.
 2.2 Electron devices and electronic circuits 15

The relationship between heated materials and electron behavior is now known as
thermionics.
Vacuum tube diode Motivated by the need for improved radio signal detectors, John Ambrose Fleming
created an improved device based upon the Edison Effect [Fle05]. The Fleming
valve, shown in Fig. 2.2, was the first diode, which had two terminals, the heated cath-
ode and the plate anode. This is a critical form of a nonlinear device. We still use semi-
conductor diodes for a variety of purposes.

2.2.2 Vacuum tube triode

Lee De Forest took the next step by inventing the vacuum tube triode, receiving US
Patent 879,532 in 1908 for an amplifier based on the triode. As shown in Fig. 2.3, his
tube added a grid between the cathode and anode. (He added the grid to avoid
infringing on existing patents.) The voltage on the grid determined how much of
the current generated by the cathode could reach the anode. The De Forest triode
allowed us to control one electrical signal (the current from the cathode to the anode)
with another (the grid). This was a critical step that allowed us to build amplifiers that
could take a small signal and reproduce it on a larger scale.
Fig. 2.4 shows an idealized form of the characteristics of a vacuum tube. The two
inputs to the tube are the plate voltage Vp between the cathode and anode and the grid
voltage Vg from the grid to ground. The output variable is the plate current Ip from the
cathode to the anode. For a given grid voltage, we can vary the plate current by chang-
ing the grid voltage. As we move to higher plate voltages, we increase the amount of
plate current available. The graph shows a family of curves: each value of Vg gives a
different Ip/Vp curve. In the plot, the slope of the Ip =Vg line is known as the transcon-
ductance gm . We will see that modern MOS transistors have similar operating curves.
Tube amplifiers Fig. 2.5 shows the schematic for a vacuum tube amplifier. The cathode and anode
are connected across the power supply to form the output circuit. The voltage from the
cathode to the anode forms the amplifier’s output. We also need a resistor, known as
the load resistor, along that path to transform the grid current to a voltage. The input
signal is applied to the gate, with the voltage from gate to ground forming the input to
be amplified. As we vary the grid voltage, the plate current varies under the relation-
ship shown in Fig. 2.5. That plate current then causes variations in the resistor’s
voltage. Since the tube voltage is


Vp ¼ VCC  IP R
L;

the tube’s output voltage varies in step with the plate current, which in turn depends on
the grid voltage.
Radio used amplifiers to build linear amplifiers that could accurately reproduce a
small signal, allowing it to be played back at a higher volume. Early computer designers
used very similar circuits to build nonlinear amplifiers to manipulate digital signals.
Limitations The vacuum tube was used prolifically in the well into the latter part of the 20th
century. However, they did have several limitations that eventually led to the creation
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
army of the Czar, or the omnipresent police of the Kaiser. In
Richmond, and Charleston, and New Orleans, the citizens are as
careless and gay as in Boston or London, and their servants a
thousand times as childlike and cordial, to all appearance, in their
relations with them as our servants are with us. But go to the bottom
of this security and dependence, and you come to police machinery
such as you never find in towns under free government: citadels,
sentries, passports, grape-shotted cannon, and daily public
whippings for accidental infractions of police ceremonies. I happened
myself to see more direct expression of tyranny in a single day and
night at Charleston, than at Naples [under Bomba] in a week; and I
found that more than half the inhabitants of this town were subject to
arrest, imprisonment, and barbarous punishment, if found in the
streets without a passport after the evening ‘gun-fire.’ Similar
precautions and similar customs may be discovered in every large
town in the South.
“Nor is it so much better, as is generally imagined, in the rural
districts. Ordinarily there is no show of government any more than at
the North: the slaves go about with as much apparent freedom as
convicts in a dockyard. There is, however, nearly everywhere,
always prepared to act, if not always in service, an armed force, with
a military organization, which is invested with more arbitrary and
cruel power than any police in Europe. Yet the security of the whites
is in a much less degree contingent on the action of the ‘patrols’ than
upon the constant, habitual, and instinctive surveillance and authority
of all white people over all black. I have seen a gentleman, with no
commission or special authority, oblige negroes to show their
passports, simply because he did not recognize them as belonging
to any of his neighbours. I have seen a girl, twelve years old, in a
district where, in ten miles, the slave population was fifty to one of
the free, stop an old man on the public road, demand to know where
he was going, and by what authority, order him to face about and
return to his plantation, and enforce her command with turbulent
anger, when he hesitated, by threatening that she would have him
well whipped if he did not instantly obey. The man quailed like a
spaniel, and she instantly resumed the manner of a lovely child with
me, no more apprehending that she had acted unbecomingly, than
that her character had been influenced by the slave’s submission to
her caprice of supremacy; no more conscious that she had
increased the security of her life by strengthening the habit of the
slave to the master race, than is the sleeping seaman that he
tightens his clutch of the rigging as the ship meets each new billow.
“There is no part of the South in which the people are more free from
the direct action of slavery upon the character, or where they have
less to apprehend from rebellion, than Eastern Tennessee. Yet, after
the burning of a negro near Knoxville, a few years ago, the deed was
justified, as necessary for the maintenance of order among the
slaves, by the editor of a newspaper (the Register), in the following
terms:—‘It was,’ he observed, ‘a means of absolute, necessary self-
defence, which could not be secured by an ordinary resort to the
laws. Two executions on the gallows have occurred in this county
within a year or two past, and the example has been unavailing. Four
executions by hanging have taken place, heretofore, in Jefferson, of
slaves guilty of similar offences, and it has produced no radical terror
or example for the others designing the same crimes, and hence any
example less horrible and terrifying would have availed nothing
here.’
“The other local paper (the Whig), upon the same occasion, used the
following language:—
“‘We have to say in defence of the act, that it was not perpetrated by
an excited multitude, but by one thousand citizens—good citizens at
that—who were cool, calm, and deliberate.’
“And the editor, who is a Methodist preacher, presently adds, after
explaining the enormity of the offence with which the victim was
charged—‘We unhesitatingly affirm that the punishment was unequal
to the crime. Had we been there we should have taken a part, and
even suggested the pinching of pieces out of him with red-hot
pincers—the cutting off of a limb at a time, and then burning them all
in a heap. The possibility of his escaping from jail forbids the idea of
awaiting the tardy movements of the law.’ [Although one thousand
trusty citizens volunteered to guard him at the stake.]
“How much more horrible than the deed are these apologies for it.
They make it manifest that it was not accidental in its character, but a
phenomenon of general and fundamental significance. They explain
the paralytic effect upon the popular conscience of the great calamity
of the South. They indicate a necessary tendency of people living
under such circumstances to return in their habits of thought to the
dark ages of mankind. For who, from the outside, can fail to see that
the real reason why men in the middle of the nineteenth century, and
in the centre of the United States, are publicly burned at the stake, is
one much less heathenish, less disgraceful to the citizens than that
given by the more zealous and extemporaneous of their journalistic
exponents—the desire to torture the sinner proportionately to the
measure of his sin. Doubtless, this reverend gentleman expresses
the utmost feeling of the ruling mind of his community. But would a
similar provocation have developed a similar avenging spirit in any
other nominally Christian or civilized people? Certainly not. All over
Europe, and in every Free State—California, for significant reasons,
temporarily excepted—in similar cases, justice deliberately takes its
course; the accused is systematically assisted in defending or
excusing himself. If the law demands his life, the infliction of
unnecessary suffering, and the education of the people in violence
and feelings of revenge, is studiously avoided. Go back to the
foundation of the custom which thus neutralizes Christianity among
the people of the South, which carries them backward blindly against
the tide of civilization, and what do we find it to be? The editor who
still retains moral health enough to be suspected—as men more
enlightened than their neighbours usually are—of heterodoxy,
answers. To follow the usual customs of civilization elsewhere would
not be felt safe. To indulge in feelings of humanity would not be felt
safe. To be faithful to the precepts of Christ would not be felt safe. To
act in a spirit of cruel, inconsiderate, illegal, violent, and pitiless
vengeance, must be permitted, must be countenanced, must be
defended by the most conservative, as a ‘means of absolute,
necessary self-defence.’ To educate the people practically otherwise
would be felt to be suicidal. Hence no free press, no free pulpit, no
free politics can be permitted in the South. Hence every white
stripling in the South may carry a dirk-knife in his pocket, and play
with a revolver before he has learned to swim.”[68]
I happened to pass through Tennessee shortly after this tragedy, and
conversed with a man who was engaged in it—a mild, common-
sense native of the country. He told me that there was no evidence
against the negro but his own confession. I suggested that he might
have been crazy. “What if he was?” he asked with a sudden asperity.
What if he was, to be sure? The slaves who were brought together to
witness his torture were not insane. They were at least capable of
instruction. That day they were given a lesson; were taught to know
their masters better; were taught that when ordinary and legal
discipline failed, resort would be had to more potent means of
governing them. A better informed man, having regard to the
ignorance of a stranger, might have answered me: “It was of no
consequence, practically, whether he were sane or mad. We do not
wish our slaves to study the right and the wrong of every exciting
occurrence. To say that being mad the negro was not responsible,
therefore not guilty of a crime, therefore not to be punished, would
be proclaiming to them that only that which is wrong is to be
dreaded. Whatever offends us, whatever is against our will and
pleasure, is what a slave must be made to dread.”
Constantly, and everywhere throughout the South, are there
occurrences of this significance; I do not say as horrible, though I
can answer for it, that no year in the last ten has passed without
something as bad;[69] but constantly and everywhere of the same
nature, of the same impulse, the same reasoning, the same
purposes, the same disregard of principles of society, which no
people can ever set aside and not have reason to feel their situation
insecure. It is false, it is the most dangerous mistake possible to
assume that this feeling of insecurity, this annihilation of the only
possible basis of security in human society, is, in the slightest
degree, the result of modern agitation. It is the fundamental law of
slavery, as distinctly appears in the decision of Justice Ruffin, of
North Carolina, in the case of the State v. Mann.[70] The American
system of slavery from its earliest years (as shown p. 496,
“Seaboard Slave States”), and without cessation to the present time,
has had this accompaniment. Less in the last twenty years, if
anything, than before. Would it not be more just to say that this
element of the present system was the cause of agitation? Must not
the determined policy of the South to deal with slavery on the
assumption that it is, in its present form, necessary, just, good, and
to be extended, strengthened, and perpetuated indefinitely, involve
constant agitation as a necessary incident of the means used to
carry it out? I do not say with you or with me, reader, but with a
goodly number of any civilized community? Do you not, who wish to
think otherwise, consider that it will always require what you must
deem a superior mind not to be overcome by incidents necessary to
the carrying out of this determination? And will not such agitation
give renewed sense of danger, and occasion renewed demands for
assurance from us?
I have remarked before that in no single instance did I find an inquiry
of the owner or the overseer of a large plantation about the poor
whites of its vicinity fail to elicit an expression indicating habitual
irritation with them. This equally with the polished and tranquil
gentleman of South Carolina and the rude pioneer settler of Texas,
himself born a dirt-eating sand-hiller. It was evident in most cases,
and in one it was distinctly explained to me by a Louisianian planter,
that the reason of this was not merely the bad effect upon the
discipline of the plantation, which was had by the intercourse
between these people and the slaves, but that it was felt that the
contrast between the habits of the former—most of the time idle, and
when working, working only for their own benefit and without a
master—constantly offered suggestions and temptations to the
slaves to neglect their duty, to run away and live a vagabond life, as
these poor whites were seen to. Hence, one of the acknowledged
advantages of very large and isolated plantations, and hence, in
part, the desire of every planter to get possession of the land of any
poor non-slaveholding neighbour.
As few Southern writers seem to have noticed this, I suppose that
few Southerners are aware how universal with planters is this
feeling. My attention being early directed to the causes of the
condition of the poor whites, I never failed to make inquiries of
planters, and of intelligent men especially, about those in their
neighbourhood; and being soon struck by the constant recurrence of
similar expressions with regard to them, I was the more careful to
introduce the subject at every proper opportunity, and, I repeat,
always with the same result. I am afraid that the feeling of the South
to the North is (more or less defined in individual minds) of the same
nature, and that the contiguity of a people whose labourers take care
of themselves, and labour industriously without being owned, can
never be felt to be safe by slaveholders. That it must always be
looked upon with apprehension, with a sense of danger, more or less
vague, more or less well defined, but always sufficient to lead to
efforts intended to counteract its natural influence—its influence not
so much with slaves, certainly not alone with the slaves, but also
with that important element of population which reaps no profit from
the good behaviour of the slaves.
In De Bow’s “Review” for January, 1850, will be found the following
passage in an article discussing the practicability of employing the
non-slaveholding whites in factories, the argument being that there
will be less danger of their becoming “Abolitionists” under such
circumstances than at present exists:-
“The great mass of our poor white population begin to
understand that they have rights, and that they, too, are
entitled to some of the sympathy which falls upon the
suffering. They are fast learning that there is an almost
infinite world of industry opening before them by which
they can elevate themselves and their families from
wretchedness and ignorance to competence and
intelligence. It is this great upheaving of our masses that
we have to fear, so far as our institutions are concerned.”
It is, in the nature of things, while slaveholders refuse the slightest
concession to the spirit of the age—while, in their legislation, they
refuse to recognize, in the slightest degree, the principles of social
science under which we live, and must live, and which every civilized
people has fully adopted, that they should endeavour to make it
appear the fault of others that they do not feel assured of safety and
at ease with themselves; that they should try to make their own
ignorant people believe that it is from without all danger is to be
apprehended—all assurance of safety to be clamoured for—that
they should endeavour to make themselves believe it.[71]
Those who seriously propose to stop all agitation on the subject of
slavery, by causing the Abolitionists to refrain from proceedings
which cause apprehension at the South, by silencing all who
entertain sentiments the utterance of which is deemed a source of
“danger to Southern institutions,” by refraining themselves from all
proceedings which will be looked upon with alarm by their fellow-
citizens of the Slave States, can know very little of what would be
required before the South were satisfied. The destruction of some
million dollars’ cost in school and text books would be one of the first
things, and yet but a small item in the undertaking. Books which
directly comment upon slavery are considered comparatively safe,
because their purpose being defined, they can be guarded against.
As is well understood, it is the insidious attacks of a free press that
are most feared. But is it well understood what are felt to be
“insidious attacks?” Some idea may be formed from the following
passages which I take, not from the heated columns of a daily
newspaper, but from the cool pages of the deliberate De Bow’s
“Review.” The apprehension they express is not of to-day; in the first
article from which I quote (which was published in the middle of Mr.
Pierce’s presidential term), reference is made to warnings of the
same character which have been sounded from time to time before;
and this very number of the “Review” contains a testimonial from
fifty-five Southern senators and representatives in Congress to the
“ability and accuracy” of its “exposition of the working of the system
of polity of the Southern States.”
“Our text books are abolition books. They are so to the
extent of their capacity.”... “We have been too careless
and indifferent to the import of these things.”
“And so long as we use such works as ‘Wayland’s Moral
Science,’ and the abolition geographies, readers, and
histories, overrunning, as they do, with all sorts of
slanders, caricatures, and blood-thirsty sentiments, let us
never complain of their [northern Church people’s] use of
that transitory romance [Uncle Tom’s Cabin]. They seek to
array our children by false ideas, against the established
ordinance of God; and it sometimes takes effect. A
professor in one of our Southern seminaries, not long
since placed in the hands of a pupil ‘Wayland’s Moral
Science,’ and informed her that the chapter on slavery
was heretical and unscriptural, and that she would not be
examined on that chapter, and need not study it. Perhaps
she didn’t. But on the day of examination she wished her
teacher to tell her ‘if that chapter was heretical how she
was to know but they were all so?’ We might enumerate
many other books of similar character and tendencies. But
we will refer to only one more—it is ‘Gilbert’s Atlas’—
though the real author’s name does not appear on the title
page. On the title page it is called ‘Appleton’s Complete
Guide of the World;’ published by D. Appleton & Co, New
York. This is an elegant and comprehensive volume,
endorsed by the Appletons and sent South, containing
hidden lessons of the most fiendish and murderous
character that enraged fanaticism could conceive or indite.
[72] It is a sort of literary and scientific infernal machine.
And whatever the design may have been, the tendency is
as shocking as the imagination can picture.... This is the
artillery and these the implements England and our own
recreant sister States are employing to overturn the order
of society and the established forms of labour that date
back beyond the penning of the decalogue.... This book,
and many other Northern school-books scattered over the
country, come within the range of the statutes of this State,
which provide for the imprisonment for life or the infliction
of the penalty of death upon any person who shall ‘publish
or distribute’ such works; and were I a citizen of New
Orleans, this work should not escape the attention of the
grand jury. But need I add more to convince the sceptical
of the necessity there is for the production of our own text-
books, and, may I not add, our own literature? Why should
the land of domestic servitude be less productive in the
 great works of the mind now than when Homer evoked the
arts, poetry, and eloquence into existence? Moses wrote
the Genesis of Creation, the Exodus of Israel, and the
laws of mankind? and when Cicero, Virgil, Horace, St.
John, and St. Paul became the instructors of the world?
[73]... They will want no cut-throat literature, no fire-brand
moral science ... nor Appleton’s ‘Complete Atlas,’ to
encourage crimes that would blanch the cheek of a pirate,
nor any of the ulcerous and polluting agencies issuing
from the hot-beds of abolition fanaticism.”
From an article on educational reform at the South, in the same
“Review,” 1856, I take the following indications of what, among other
Northern doings, are considered to imperil the South:—
“‘Lovell’s United States Speaker,’ the ‘National Reader,’
the ‘Young Ladies’ Reader,’ ‘Columbian Orator,’ ‘Scott’s
Lessons,’ the ‘Village Reader,’ and numerous others, have
been used for years, and are all, in some respects,
valuable compilations. We apprehend, however, there are
few parents or teachers who are familiar with the whole of
their contents, or they would demand expurgated editions
for the use of their children. The sickly sentimentality of
the poet Cowper, whose ear became so ‘pained,’ and his
soul ‘sick with every day’s report of wrong and outrage,’
that it made him cry out in agony for ‘a lodge in some vast
wilderness,’ where he might commune with howling
wolves and panthers on the blessings of liberty (?),
stamps its infectious poison upon many of the pages of
these works.”...
“From the American First Class Book, page 185, we quote
another more modern sentiment, which bears no less
higher authority than the name of the great Massachusetts
statesman, Mr. Webster:”
Having burnt or expurgated Webster and Cowper, is it to be
imagined that the leaders of opinion in the South would yet be willing
to permit familiar intercourse between themselves and a people who
allowed a book containing ‘Such lines as these to circulate freely?—

“What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and Godlike reason,
To rust unused.”

What a dangerous sentiment to come by any chance to a slave! Is it

not? Are you, then, prepared to burn your Shakespeare? I will not
ask if you will have another book “expurgated,” of all passages the
tendency of which is to set the bondmen free.
If the security of life and property at the South must for ever be
dependent on the thoroughness with which the negro population is
prevented from acquiring knowledge; from thinking of themselves
and for themselves, it will never be felt to be greater than it is to-day.
Efforts made to increase this security will of themselves occasion
agitation, and agitation must counteract those efforts. Knowledge,
knowledge of what is going on elsewhere, of the condition of men
elsewhere, of what is thought elsewhere, must have increased
currency with every class of mankind in all parts of this continent, as
it increases in population, and the movements of its population
increase in activity and importance. No human laws, embargoes, or
armies and navies can prevent it. Do our utmost, we cannot go back
of the steam-engine, the telegraph, the cotton-gin, and the cylinder
press. The South has admitted steamboats and railroads. It was not
practicable to stop with these, and bar out all the rest that is peculiar
to the nineteenth century. Is it practicable to admit the machinery of
modern civilized life, and not stir up its free people? Is it practicable
to stir up its intermediate class, and keep its lowest torpid? Assuredly
the security which depends upon preventing either of these steps
can never be permanently increased; spite of all possible further
extension of slave territory, and dispersion and disconnection of
plantations, it must gradually lessen. As it lessens, the demand upon
the nation to supply new grounds of security must increase—
increase continually, until at length, this year, next year, or another,
they conclusively and hopelessly fail. It may cost us much or it may
cost us little to reach that point, but it is inevitably to be reached. It
may be after long and costly civil war, or longer and more costly
foreign wars, or it may be peaceably, sensibly, and soon, but it must
come. The annexation of Cuba, international fugitive slave laws,[74]
the African slave trade, judgments of the Supreme Court, and
whatever else may be first asked and given, will not prevent it—
nothing the North will do, nothing the North can do, will prevent it.
The proximity of a people who cannot hold labour in contempt; who
cannot keep labourers in ignorance and permanent dependence
each upon another man; who cannot have an effective censorship of
the press, or a trustworthy army of mouchards, prevents, and must
always prevent, the South from standing with the slightest
confidence of safety on that policy which it proclaims to be its only
ground of safety. Nothing but a reversal of the current of our
Northern history for half a century, nothing, in fact, but the
enslavement of labour at the North, could in the nature of things,
give that security, even temporarily, to the capitalists of labour at the
South which they need.[75] Some demand of the South upon the
nation, acquiescence in which it holds essential to its safety, must
then at length be distinctly refused. And when, ten or twenty years
hence, if so be, this shall come to pass, what then is to happen to
us?
Dissolution?
This is what many Southern politicians avow, whenever they
contemplate such a contingency.
Why?
Because it is known that the people of the North are unwilling that
the Union should be dissolved, whereas they have no indisposition
to the only course which it will then be possible for the South to
adopt, for the sake of increasing the security of its citizens, against
insurrectionary movements of its slaves. This plainly would be to
arrange a systematic opportunity and method for the slaves to
labour, whenever they chose, and as much as they might choose, in
an orderly, peaceable, and wise way, for their own release and
improvement, each man for himself and those most dear to him;
each man by himself, independently, openly, with no occasion for
combination, secrecy, plots, or conspiracy. To prepare, for those
disposed to avail themselves of it, a field, either here or elsewhere,
in which their capability and Godlike reason, such as it may be, little
or great, need not be forced by law to rust unused, or brighten only
to the material advantage of a master. This I must think to be
consciously, even now, the only final course of safety before every
reflective Southern mind. This, or——dissolution, and the chances of
war.

[The above was written before Mr. Lincoln was spoken of as a

candidate for the Presidency.]
 APPENDIX (A.)
THE CONDITION OF VIRGINIA.—STATISTICS.

1.
The Richmond Enquirer, a strong and influential pro-slavery
newspaper of Virginia, in advocating some railroad projects, thus
describes the progress of the State relatively to that of some of the
Free States, since the Revolution. (Dec. 29, 1852.)
“Virginia, anterior to the Revolution, and up to the adoption
of the Federal Constitution, contained more wealth and a
larger population than any other State of this Confederacy.
***
“Virginia, from being first in point of wealth and political
power, has come down to the fifth in the former, and the
fourth in the latter. New York, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, and Ohio stand above her in wealth, and
all, but Massachusetts, in population and political power.
Three of these States are literally chequered over with
railroads and canals; and the fourth (Massachusetts) with
railroads alone. * * *
“But when we find that the population of the single city of
New York and its environs exceeds the whole free
population of Eastern Virginia, and the valley between the
Blue Ridge and Alleghany, we have cause to feel deeply
for our situation. Philadelphia herself contains a population
far greater than the whole free population of Eastern
Virginia. The little State of Massachusetts has an
aggregate wealth exceeding that of Virginia by more than
one hundred and twenty-six millions of dollars—a State,
too, which is incapable of subsisting its inhabitants from
the production of its soil. And New York, which was as
 much below Massachusetts, at the adoption of the Federal
Constitution, in wealth and power, as the latter was below
Virginia, now exceeds the wealth of both. While the
aggregate wealth of New York, in 1850, amounted to
$1,080,309,216, that of Virginia was $436,701,082—a
difference in favour of the former of $643,608,134. The
unwrought mineral wealth of Virginia exceeds that of New
York. The climate and soil are better; the back country,
with equal improvements, would contribute as much.”
The same journal adds, on another occasion:—
“In no State of the Confederacy do the facilities for
manufacturing operations exist in greater profusion than in
Virginia. Every condition essential to success in these
employments is found here in prodigal abundance, and in
a peculiarly convenient combination. First, we have a
limitless supply of water power—the cheapest of motors—
in localities easy of access. So abundant is this supply of
water power that no value is attached to it distinct from the
adjacent lands, except in the vicinity of the larger towns.
On the Potomac and its tributaries; on the Rappahannock;
on the James and its tributaries; on the Roanoke and its
tributaries; on the Holston, the Kanawha, and other
streams, numberless sites may now be found where the
supply of water power is sufficient for the purposes of a
Lawrence or a Lowell. Nor is there any want of material for
building at these localities; timber and granite are
abundant; and, to complete the circle of advantages, the
climate is genial and healthful, and the soil eminently
productive. * * * Another advantage which Virginia
possesses, for the manufacture of cotton, is the proximity
of its mills to the raw material. At the present prices of the
staple, the value of this advantage is estimated at 10 per
cent.”
The Lynchburg Virginian, another newspaper of respectability,
having a similar purpose in hand, namely, to induce capitalists to
invest their money in enterprises that shall benefit the State,
observes that—
“The coal fields of Virginia are the most extensive in the
world, and her coal is of the best and purest quality. Her
iron deposits are altogether inexhaustible, and in many
instances so pure that it is malleable in its primitive state;
and many of these deposits in the immediate vicinity of
extensive coal-fields. She has, too, very extensive
deposits of copper, lead, and gypsum. Her rivers are
numerous and bold, generally with fall enough for
extensive water power.
“A remarkable feature in the mining and manufacturing
prospects of Virginia is, the ease and economy with which
all her minerals are mined; instead of being, as in England
and elsewhere, generally imbedded deep within the
bowels of the earth, from which they can be got only with
great labour and at great cost, ours are found everywhere
on the hills and slopes, with their ledges dipping in the
direction of the plains below. Why, then, should not
Virginia at once employ at least half of her labour and
capital in mining and manufacturing? Richmond could as
profitably manufacture all cotton and woollen goods as
Lowell, or any other town in New England. Why should not
Lynchburg, with all her promised facility of getting coal and
pig metal, manufacture all articles of iron and steel just as
cheaply, and yet as profitably, as any portion of the
Northern States? Why should not every town and village
on the line of every railroad in the State, erect their shops,
in which they may manufacture a thousand articles of daily
consumption, just as good and cheap as they may be
made anywhere? * * *
“Dependent upon Europe and the North for almost every
yard of cloth, and every coat, and boot, and hat we wear;
for our axes, scythes, tubs, and buckets—in short, for
everything except our bread and meat!—it must occur to
the South that if our relations with the North should ever
 be severed—and how soon they may be, none can know
(may God avert it long!)—we would, in all the South, not
be able to clothe ourselves. We could not fell our forests,
plough our fields, nor mow our meadows. In fact, we
would be reduced to a state more abject than we are
willing to look at even prospectively. And yet, with all these
things staring us in the face, we shut our eyes, and go on
blindfold.”
At the Convention for the formation of the Virginia State Agricultural
Society, in 1852, the draft of an address to the farmers of the State
was read, approved, and once adopted by the Convention. The vote
by which it was adopted was soon afterwards reconsidered, and it
was again approved and adopted. A second time it was
reconsidered; and finally it was rejected, on the ground that there
were admissions in it that would feed the fanaticism of the
Abolitionists. No one argued against it on the ground of the falsity or
inaccuracy of these admissions. Twenty of the most respectable
proprietors in the State, immediately afterwards, believing it to
contain “matter of grave import,” which should not be suppressed for
such a reason, united in requesting a copy of it for publication. In the
note of these gentlemen to the author, they express the belief that
Virginia now “possesses the richest soil, most genial climate, and
cheapest labour on earth.” The author of the address, in his reply,
says: “Fanaticism is a fool for whose vagaries I am not responsible. I
am a pro-slavery man—I believe it, at this time, impossible to abolish
it, and not desirable if it were possible.”
The address was accordingly published, and I make the following
extracts from it:—
“ADDRESS TO THE FARMERS OF VIRGINIA.
“‘The Southern States stand foremost in agricultural
labour, though they hold but the third rank in population.’
At the head of these Southern States, in production, in
extent of territory, in climate, in soil, and in population,
stands the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is a nation of
farmers. Eight-tenths of her industry is expended upon the
soil; but less than one-third of her domain is in pasturage,
or under the plough.
“Out of somewhat more than thirty-nine millions of acres,
she tills but little over ten millions of acres, or about
twenty-six and a quarter per cent., whilst New York has
subdued about forty-one per cent., or twelve and a quarter
out of her twenty-nine and a half millions of acres: and
Massachusetts, with her sterile soil and inhospitable
climate, has reclaimed from the forest, the quarry, and the
marsh, about forty-two and a half per cent., or two and
one-eighth out of her little territory of five millions of acres.
Yet, according to the census of 1840, only six-tenths of the
labour of New York, and four-tenths of that of
Massachusetts, or, relatively, one-fifth and two-fifths less
than our own, is expended upon agriculture. * * *
“The live stock of Virginia are worth only three dollars and
thirty-one cents for every arable acre; but in New York
they are worth six dollars and seven cents, and in
Massachusetts four dollars and fifty-two cents.
“The proportion of hay for the same quantity of land is, for
Virginia, eighty-one pounds; for New York, six hundred
and seventy-nine pounds; for Massachusetts, six hundred
and eighty-four pounds. * * *
“With access to the same markets, and with hundreds of
mechanics of our own, who can vie with the best Northern
manufacturers, we find that our implements are inferior,
that the New York farmer spends upon his nearly three
times as much as we do upon ours, and the
Massachusetts farmer more than double. * * *
“Manure is indispensable to good husbandry. Judging from
the history of agriculture in all other countries, we may
safely say, that farming can never attain to continued
perfection where manure is not put on with an unsparing
hand. By far the larger part of this can only be made by
stock, which should, at the same time, be made the
source of profit, at least sufficient to pay the cost of their
keep, so that, other things being equal, it is a safe rule to
estimate the condition of a farming district by the amount
of live stock it may possess, and the provision made for
their sustenance. Applied in this instance, we see that the
New York farmer has invested in live stock two dollars and
seventy-six cents, and the Massachusetts farmer one
dollar and twenty-one cents per acre more than the
Virginia farmer. In pasturage we cannot tell the difference.
It is well, perhaps, for the honour of the State, that we
cannot. But in hay, New York has five hundred and ninety-
eight pounds, and Massachusetts six hundred and three
pounds more per acre than we have. This, however, does
not present the true state of the case. Land-locked by
mountain barriers, as yet impassable for the ordinary
agricultural staples, or debarred from their production by
distance and prohibitory rates of transportation, most of
the wealth and exports of many considerable portions of
our State consists of live stock alone. What proportion
these parts bear to the whole, we have been unable
definitely to ascertain; but it is, no doubt, so great as to
warrant us in assuming a much more considerable
disparity than the statistics show in the live stock of the
whole Atlantic slope, as compared with New York and
Massachusetts. And we shall appreciate, still more highly,
the skill of the Northern farmer, if we reflect that a readier
market for every, the most trivial, product of his farm,
operates as a constant temptation to break up his rotation
and diminish his stock.
“In the above figures, carefully calculated from the data of
authentic documents,[76] we find no cause for self-
gratulation, but some food for meditation. They are not
without use to those who would improve the future by the
past. They show that we have not done our part in the
bringing of land into cultivation; that, notwithstanding
natural advantages which greatly exceed those of the two
States drawn into parallel with Virginia, we are yet behind
them both—that with forty and sixty per cent. respectively
of their industry devoted to other pursuits, into which it has
been lured by prospects of greater gain, they have done
more than we have done. * * *
“Whilst our population has increased for the last ten years,
in a ratio of 11·66, that of New York has increased in a
ratio of 27·52, and that of Massachusetts at the still
heavier and more startling rate of 34·81. With a territorial
area thirty per cent. larger than New York, we have but
little more than one-third of her Congressional
representation; and Massachusetts, only one-eighth our
size, comes within two of our number of representatives,
we being cut down to thirteen, while she rises to eleven.
And thus we, who once swayed the councils of the Union,
find our power gone, and our influence on the wane, at a
time when both are of vital importance to our prosperity, if
not to our safety. As other States accumulate the means of
material greatness, and glide past us on the road to
wealth and empire, we slight the warnings of dull statistics,
and drive lazily along the field of ancient customs, or stop
the plough, to speed the politician—should we not, in too
many cases, say with more propriety, the demagogue?
“State pride is a good thing; it is one mode in which
patriotism is manifested. But it is not always a wise one.
Certainly not, when it makes us content on small grounds.
And when it smothers up improvement in self-satisfaction,
it is a most pernicious thing. We have much to be proud of
in Virginia. In intellect and fitness to command, in personal
and social qualities, in high tone and noble bearing, in
loyalty, in generosity, and magnanimity, and
disinterestedness, above all, in moral purity, we once
stood—let us hope, still stand—preeminent among our
sister States. But the possession and practice of these
virtues do not comprise our whole duty as men or as
citizens. The great decree which has gone forth ordaining
 that we shall ‘increase, and multiply, and replenish the
earth,’ enjoins upon us quite other duties, which cannot be
neglected with impunity; so we have found out by
experience—for we have neglected these duties. And
when we contemplate our field of labour, and the work we
have done in it, we cannot but observe the sad contrast
between capacity and achievement. With a wide-spread
domain, with a kindly soil, with a climate whose sun
radiates fertility, and whose very dews distil abundance,
we find our inheritance so wasted that the eye aches to
behold the prospect.”
2.
The Census of 1850 gives the following values to agricultural land in
the adjoining States of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
In Virginia. In Pennsylvania.
No. of acres 10,360,135 8,626,619
improved land in
farms,
" 15,792,176 6,294,728
unimproved,
Cash value of farms, $216,401,543— $407,876,099—
$8 an acre. $25 an acre.
Considering that, at the Revolution, Virginia had nearly twice the
population of Pennsylvania, was in possession of much more wealth
or disposable capital, and had much the best natural facilities for
external commerce and internal communication, if her political and
social constitution had been and had continued equally good, and
her people equally industrious and enterprising with those of
Pennsylvania, there is no reason why the value of her farms should
not have been, at this time, at least equal to those of Pennsylvania.
Were it so, it appears that Virginia, in that particular alone, would
now be richer than she is by four hundred and thirty millions of
dollars.
If it should be thought that this difference between the value of land
in Virginia and Pennsylvania is in some degree due to more fertile