How can we design electronic devices that don’t overheat?

The heat produced by electronic devices does more than annoy users. Heat-induced voids and cracking can cause chips and circuits to fail. A Stanford-led engineering team has developed a way to not only manage heat, but help route it away from delicate devices with a thermal transistor — a nanoscale switch that can conduct heat away from electronic components and insulate them against its damaging effects. Previous thermal transistors proved too big, too slow and not sensitive enough for practical use. Goodson’s team overcame these obstacles employing a molybdenum disulfide thin film.

“Developing a practical thermal transistor could be a game changer in how we design electronics,” said senior author Kenneth Goodson, a professor of mechanical engineering. “For the first time, however, a practical nanoscale thermal transistor is within reach.”

The research results are published in this article.

Read the full article at Stanford News.