IBM cools computer chips with miniature water pipes
It might seem foolish to combine water with electric circuits, but IBM have used cutting edge technology to cool the next generation of PC chips with liquid.
Scientists at the firm believe that running water through hair-thin pipes inside chips will solve the problem of over-heating in the next-generation of computers. They showed off their first working prototype earlier this month.
As chips get ever smaller, cramming more processing power into ever-tinier spaces, the heat thrown off by the miniature circuits becomes harder to manage.
Water is pumped between layers of the microchip to cool it down
Cooling measures used now to avoid chip meltdowns, including "heat sinks" made from heat-absorbing materials, might not work on such a miniature scale.
In fact, in a future microprocessor design IBM is exploring - in which chips are stacked vertically instead of next to each other to save space and enhance performance - the heat-to-volume ratio exceeds that of a nuclear reactor.
To address that, IBM researchers say they could pipe water in between chips that are sandwiched together. The system uses pipes that are just 50 microns wide, which is 50 millionths of a metre. The tiny tubes are sealed to prevent leaks and electrical shorts.
"In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling," project leader Thomas Brunschwiler said.
Even these micro amounts of water can handle prodigious cooling chores, because water is much more efficient than air at absorbing heat. This is the first time microchips have utilised the benefits.
"It's never been applied this close to the heart of the matter," said analyst Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group.
IBM estimate the technique would allow chip designers to boost the number of data transfer channels by a factor of 100 and dramatically reduce the amount of space needed by data to travel between components.
However, IBM's tiny pipes aren't out of the laboratory yet. They are at least five years away from shop shelves.
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