Can ultrathin silicon nanowire technology improve processor performance through better heat conduction?
Silicon is modest and plentiful yet an unfortunate conductor for heat. This issue is tiny computer chips with a considerable number of semiconductors timed at GHz speeds have plagued researchers for years. Regular silicon comprises three isotopes: silicon-28, silicon-29, and silicon-30. Silicon-28 is the most ordinarily bountiful, making up around 92% of standard silicon. In addition, it has for quite some time been realized that Si-28 is the best guide for heat conduction. Si-28 can lead to heat around 10% better than average silicon whenever cleansed. Notwithstanding, the benefit has been decided as not beneficial as of not long ago. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers used pure Si-28 to create ultrathin nanowires to promote better heat conduction. The results were 150% better through properly conducting heat, surprising as the expectation was only between ten to twenty percent improvement. Electron microscopy demonstrated that the Si-28 nanowires had a more flawless glassy finish, allowing them to not suffer from poor phonon confusion and escape in raw silicon nanowire thermal transmission. Additionally, a natural layer of SiO2 is initiated upon the nanowires, maintaining the phonons to transport heat efficiently. The team testing the effects of using ultrathin silicon nanowire technology would like to experiment with more control instead of measuring the heat conduction located in the nanowires. However, the researchers have difficulty obtaining materials as they are not in rich abundance. The findings by the team do pose an exciting look into the future of semiconductor technology to find more use in consumer-level machines. Source: Berkley Lab
