May 23, 2006
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Purdue University News (04/25/06) Venere, Emil
Engineers at Purdue University continue to make progress on developing a cooling system for the computer chips of the future. After creating a tiny "micro-pump" cooling device, the researchers have successfully integrated the unit onto a silicon chip that is approximately one-sixth of a square inch. Suresh Garimella, director of Purdue's Cooling Technologies Research Center, says in 10 years computer chips will likely have around 100 times more transistors and other components, which will produce much more heat. Better cooling systems will be needed to protect electronic components of computers from becoming damaged or to keep computers operating at their highest level. "Our goal is to develop advanced cooling systems that are self-contained on chips and are capable of handling the more extreme heating in future chips," says Garimella, a professor of mechanical engineering. The researchers used electrohydrodynamics to achieve the pumping action of the microelectromechanical system, and glued a thin sheet of piezoelectric material to the top of the prototype chip's water-filled micro-channels to increase the force of the pumping action. The feature has boosted the pumping action by 13 percent in the prototype, but has the potential to produce improvements of 100 percent or more. Among the challenges the engineers face is designing a system that does not leak water and can be manufactured under the same conditions as semiconductor chips.
For the complete article, see http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2006/060425.Garimella.micropump.html
Posted by rab5 at 09:27 AM
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