Graphene Cools Electronics Devices

A layer of graphene can reduce the working temperature in hotspots up to 25 percent 

GRAPHENE: Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, is stronger than steel yet lightweight and flexible. Electrons flow far more quickly through graphene than silicon. It is also a transparent electrical conductor that combines electrical and optical properties in an exceptional way. Graphene is a very good thermal conductor, ten times better than copper.

An international group of researchers, headed by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, are the first in the world to show that graphene has a heat dissipating effect on silicon based electronics. They show that a layer of graphene can reduce the working temperature in hotspots inside a processor by up to 25 percent – which can increase the age of computer and other electronic devices.

 It reduce the temperature in the tiny areas where the electronics work most intensively and therefore generate the most heat such as inside a processor, for instance. These tiny hotspots are found in all electronics. Size wise, they are on a micro or nano scale, in other words a thousandth of a millimetre or smaller.

“The normal working temperature in the hotspots we have cooled with a graphene layer has ranged from 55 to 115 degrees Celsius. We have been able to reduce this by up to 13 degrees, which not only improves energy efficiency, it also extends the working life of the electronics.”

One general  thumb rule given by the researchers is that a 10° C (18° F) increase in working temperature equates to a halving of the working life of an electronics system and the researchers worked over it by applying a layer of graphene over electronic devices.

A graphene layer observed in a transmission electron microscope

According to a recent study in the USA based on data from 2006, around 50 percent of the total electricity used to run data servers goes on cooling the systems. 

The research, that has been undertaken in partnership with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai University in China and Swedish company SHT Smart High Tech AB, has been published in the scientific publication Carbon. 

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Write by: RC - Thursday, July 4, 2013