A North Carolina State University researcher has developed a more
efficient, less expensive way of cooling electronic devices –
particularly devices that generate a lot of heat, such as lasers and
power devices.
The technique uses a "heat spreader" made of a copper-graphene
composite, which is attached to the electronic device using an
indium-graphene interface film "Both the copper-graphene and
indium-graphene have higher thermal conductivity, allowing the device to
cool efficiently," says Dr. Jag Kasichainula, an associate professor of
materials science and engineering at NC State and author of a paper on
the research. Thermal conductivity is the rate at which a material
conducts heat.
In fact, Kasichainula found that the copper-graphene film's thermal
conductivity allows it to cool approximately 25 percent faster than pure
copper, which is what most devices currently use.