Making sure your chips don't burn

THE TYNDALL NATIONAL INSTITUTE:RESEARCHERS AT the Tyndall National Institute have found a new way of cooling semiconductors in computers, mobiles and games consoles to improve their performance and reduce energy consumption.

The idea came from a meeting of academics and industry representatives under the auspices of the Power Electronics Industry Group. One of the issues identified was the heat generated by the ever smaller and more powerful semiconductors. If a computer chip is not kept cool its performance is compromised and its lifespan reduced.

Tyndall and the Stokes Institute at the University of Limerick proposed a solution using nanotechnology. Most computer users will be familiar with the noise of a fan. This is one of the mechanisms used to cool semiconductors. The other is called a heat sink, and in most computers the two are used in conjunction.

However, as Dr Kafil M Razeeb of the Tyndal Institute explains, its effectiveness is compromised by the roughness of the semiconductors and the heat sink.

“They must be in direct contact to work efficiently because areas where the two components do not touch rely on air to conduct the heat, and air is a poor conductor,” he says. Most computers have thermal interface materials (TIM) to join the chip with the heat sink, with solder or a thin, film-like sheet.

“Solder is expensive and not environmentally friendly. The film-based TIMs are easier to work with but far less effective than the solder.”

Research has focused on developing a new film-based solution. Dr Razeeb says the group “successfully fabricated nanowire-based TIM that is at least 50 per cent better in terms of thermal performance than commercial thermal pads”.

If chip manufacturing firms can move away from a reliance on solder, they can reduce the cost of thermal management by 500 per cent, with potential knock-on benefits for consumers.

Dr Razeeb’s preference is to licence the technology to an Irish-based firm.