Archive

Sponsors: AMD, CISCO, NSF, MARCO IFC The performance density of modern electronic systems (including desktop and mainframe computers and routers) is severely limited by the temperature rise at hotspots. Hotspots are regions of especially high computational density at which heat fluxes can exceed several kW/cm2. The hotspot problem is particularly important and challenging for complex [...]

Sponsors: Honda, NSF Collaborators: John Eaton Group (Stanford ME), Honda R&D Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells show promise as CO2-free energy-conversion devices. Reducing the size of the gas delivery channels could improve the efficiency and power density of PEM fuel cells , but the formation of liquid-phase water can impair the flow of reactant […]

Sponsors: AFOSR, KLA-Tencor Modern lithography equipment using extreme ultraviolet radiation demands precision optical components that can tolerate enormous radiation densities while resisting thermal damage. Many of these optical components involve novel nanostructures, and the absence of thermal conduction property data for these materials is a significant barrier to lifetime reliability engineering. One example is Mo/Si [...]

Sponsors: DARPA (ICECool Fundamentals Program), IBM Collaborators: Santiago Group, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, IBM Students: Tom Dusseault, Matt Hoffman, Ken Lopez, Prof. Damena Agonafer, Prof. Yoonjin Won (UC Irvine), Dr. Michael Barako The development of high performance heat exchangers has enjoyed a long tradition of research at Stanford University dating back to the early work [...]

Sponsors: DaimlerChrysler Synthetic diamond films are promising for a broad variety of engineering applications incuding wear-resistance coatings, semiconductor passivation, and high-temperature electronics. Diamond enjoys the highest thermal conductivity of any standard crystalline material at room temperature, and many of the basic physical phenomena governing conduction in other dielectrics and semiconductors are amplified in this unique [...]

Sponsors: Google Thermal-power challenges and increasingly expensive energy demands pose threats to the historical rate of increase in processor performance. Energy-efficient computing schemes and heterogeneous integration (including but not limited to 2.5 & 3D chips) promise substantial reduction in energy demand for emerging and growing computing needs. However, these conflicting trends have resulted in a [...]

Sponsors: DARPA NJTT Program (4 separate contracts), as well as separate contracts with Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems Students: Prof. Jungwan Cho (Sungkyunkwan University), Dr. Aditya Sood, Dr. Joe Katz A variety of modern high-power electronic devices are based on high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) and generate enormous heat fluxes that can approach tens [...]

Sponsors: IFC/MARCO, ONR, NSF, DOE Carbon nanotubes offer unusual thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties, which vary with chirality, geometry (multiwall vs single-wall), and length. They are promising for a variety of applications in electronic systems and MEMS including as passive regions for aggressive heat conduction, as well as for active regions in transistors and as [...]