There are several factors contributing to the CPU power consumption; they include dynamic power consumption, short-circuit power consumption, and power loss due to
transistor leakage currents:
The dynamic power consumption originates from the activity of logic gates inside a CPU. When the logic gates toggle, energy is flowing as the capacitors inside them are charged and discharged. The dynamic power consumed by a CPU is approximately proportional to the CPU frequency, and to the square of the CPU voltage:
where C is capacitance, f is frequency, and V is voltage.
When logic gates toggle, some transistors inside may change states. As this takes a finite amount of time, it may happen that for a very brief amount of time some transistors are conducting simultaneously. A direct path between the source and ground then results in some short-circuit power loss. The magnitude of this power is dependent on the logic gate, and is rather complex to model on a macro level.
Power consumption due to leakage power emanates at a micro-level in transistors. Small amounts of currents are always flowing between the differently doped parts of the transistor. The magnitude of these currents depend on the state of the transistor, its dimensions, physical properties and sometimes temperature. The total amount of leakage currents tends to inflate for increasing temperature and decreasing transistor sizes.
Increased heat in a wire generally means higher resistance. Also increased heat in a semiconductor could lead to higher conductance which can cause transistors to not work properly. Increased temperatures inflate the leakage currents in transistors.
Increased leakage is a common failure mode for a cpu. It results from non-catastrophic over-stress of a semiconductor device, when the junction or the gate oxide suffers permanent damage not sufficient to cause a catastrophic failure.
So if you lower temps, you can increase voltage while keeping the same peak core temperature.
There is always a level of voltage were damage will happen even on LN2. Voltage is like a dam. Pressure increases until a hole forms, then the current is the water flowing out the hole.
With a high enough voltage, you can overcome the resistance of air and form an arc across a gap. Overcome the insulation between the plates in a capacitor. Break the insulation between traces in a cpu. Cause the breakdown of transistors.
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