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from the does-it-also-make-the-room-darker? dept.
Researchers at the University of Michigan ran a light emitting diode (LED) with electrodes reversed in order to cool another device mere nanometers away. The approach could lead to new solid-state cooling technology for future microprocessors, which will have so many transistors packed into a small space that current methods can’t remove heat quickly enough.
This could turn out to be important for future smartphones and other computers. With more computing power in smaller and smaller devices, removing the heat from the microprocessor is beginning to limit how much power can be squeezed into a given space.
https://www.rtoz.org/2019/02/18/running-an-led-in-reverse-could-cool-future-computers/
[How does this compare to a Peltier device?
--Ed.]
(Score: 3, Informative) by jmorris on Wednesday February 20 2019, @03:40AM
Yup, many forget or never realized the truth of diodes.
All PN junctions are diodes.
All PN junctions are zener diodes, although sometimes they are destroyed at about the same reverse voltage. Just depends on the way it was designed.
All PN junctions are LEDs at some wavelength, often infrared.
All PN junctions are photodiodes, sensitive to some wavelengths more than others.
All PN junctions are solar cells, usually very poor ones because so small but still...
The reactions to light are often eliminated by encapsulating them in an opaque substance such as epoxy.