A team researchers based in Lawrence Berkeley's National Laboratory US Department of Energy announces the development of a new techniques that will allow in the future the easy chilling of microprocessors with use of carbon nanotubes.
The technique they have developed is both easy and friendly procedure, meaning it can easily be scaled up for mass production. Carbon nanotubes were chosen in this research because they have remarkable physical and chemical properties. These tubes can be easily made by wrapping leaves graphene.
Modern microprocessor chips can reach extreme performance (overclocking), but at the same time they generate a lot of heat. The billionsmillions τρανζίστορς που είναι στριμωγμένα μέσα σε λίγα τετραγωνικά εκατοστά, πολύ εύκολα μπορούν να ξεπεράσει θερμοκρασίες μεγαλύτερες από το σημείο βρασμού του νερού όταν δεν έχουν επαρκή ψύξη.
At this point, cooling is usually done with a combination of heat-conducting adhesive, a heat sink and a fan, or in more hitech situations with water-circulating hydraulic cooling circuits.
Using carbon nanotubes, the efficiency of future cooling systems will be far greater than that available with today's technology.
The team, led by physicist Frank Ogletree, found a way to use organic molecules as binders to attach carbon nanotubes to the metal surfaces of microprocessors with highly elastic covalent bonds.
The heat flow from the microprocessors tested improved by 600% (!!!) with the nanotubes, the group said. Attaching pipes to metal surfaces is done through gas vapor or chemical liquids at low temperature, which means that chip makers can easily adapt them to their production line.
Details of the new technique appear in the latest issue of Nature Communications.
