NTU team develops solution to prevent overheating in next-gen electronic devices
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a solution that prevents overheating in the next generation of energy efficient, high-performance 3D-stacked electronic devices.
3D-stacked electronics are made of interconnected vertical layers of chips that are prone to overheating because densely packed components prevent heat from escaping.
Now, using magnetic fields to align and orient nanoparticles of hexagonal boron nitride (BN), a team of scientists, led by Nanyang Asst Prof Hortense Le Ferrand of NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was able to channel heat away from their sources.
The researchers first coated particles of BN with iron oxide to make them responsive to magnetic fields. They then suspended the coated particles in a solvent and used a magnetic field to align the particles in different orientations.
The scientists tested the ability of the different configurations to dissipate heat and found that vertically arranged particles channelled heat upwards most effectively. The orientation of the particles could also be tailored to direct heat sideways, such as when the particles are sandwiched between two heat-emitting electronic components.
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