Communications of the ACM
New Way to Cool Computer Chips Involves Laser Metal Printing
Researchers at Binghamton University researchers developed a manufacturing technique that can keep electronics cooler by as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing faster, more efficient computation.
Credit: Binghamton University
Binghamton University researchers have developed a manufacturing technique to keep electronics cooler by as much as 18 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing faster, more efficient computation.
The new method removes thermal interface materials from chips, instead using a laser to selectively melt and bond a tin-silver-titanium alloy directly onto the silicon of central processing units or graphics processors.
The alloy solidifies at a low temperature, reducing thermal stress from thermal contraction during cooling.
Laser processing reduces the time needed to generate the silicide bond to microseconds, which is sufficiently fast to enable additive manufacturing of metal directly onto silicon. The technique eliminates both the lid and two thermal interface materials by printing the heat sink directly onto the silicon.
Binghamton's Scott Schiffres said, "Lower operating temperatures will improve the energy efficiency of data centers by about 5%, which can save $438 million in electricity and can prevent 3.7 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted per year.”
From Binghamton University
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