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Phoenix666 writes:

Bumpy surfaces with graphene between would help dissipate heat in next-generation microelectronic devices, according to Rice University scientists.

Their theoretical studies show that enhancing the interface between gallium nitride semiconductors and diamond heat sinks would allow phonons – quasiparticles of sound that also carry heat – to disperse more efficiently. Heat sinks are used to carry heat away from electronic devices.

Rice computer models replaced the flat interface between the materials with a nanostructured pattern and added a layer of graphene, the atom-thick form of carbon, as a way to dramatically improve heat transfer, said Rice materials scientist Rouzbeh Shahsavari.

The new work by Shahsavari, Rice graduate student and lead author Lei Tao and postdoctoral researcher Sreeprasad Sreenivasan appeared this month in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

No matter the size, electronic devices need to disperse the heat they produce, Shahsavari said. "With the current trend of constant increases in power and device miniaturization, efficient heat management has become a serious issue for reliability and performance," he said. "Oftentimes, the individual materials in hybrid nano- and microelectronic devices function well but the interface of different materials is the bottleneck for heat diffusion."

It would help, theoretically.

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