Communications of the ACM
Self-Cooling Observed in Graphene Electronics
An atomic force microscope tip scans the surface of a graphene-metal contact to measure temperature with spatial resolution of about 10 nm and temperature resolution of about 250 mK. Color represents temperature data.
Alex Jerez, Beckman Institute Imaging Technology Group
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have found that graphene transistors have a nanoscale cooling effect that reduces their temperatures. The researchers used an atomic force microscope as a temperature probe to take the measurements and found that thermoelectric cooling effects can be stronger at graphene contacts than resistive heating, lowering the overall temperature of the transistor.
"We found that in these graphene transistors, there are regions where the thermoelectric cooling can be larger than the resistive heating, which allows these devices to cool themselves," says Illinois professor William King.
The finding indicates that graphene-based electronics could require minimal cooling, increasing their energy efficiency even more. The researchers next want to use the atomic force microscope temperature probe to study heating and cooling in carbon nanotubes and other nanomaterials.
From University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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