Boron arsenide crystals can dissipate the heat generated in electronic devices

https://cacm.acm.org/news/229534-crystals-could-cool-down-your-future-electronic-devices/fulltext

by rbanffy • 8 years ago

54 19 8 years ago

cacm.acm.org

strainer3• 8 years ago

"In the future, further studies which will enhance the growth of the crystal, as well as explore potential large-scale applications"

Hinting at awesome GPU cooling and such, with not one mention of the materials exceptional hazard.

Boron Arsenide

GHS Hazard Statements

H301 + H331 - Toxic if swallowed or if inhaled

H410 - Very toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects. Safety Precautions

P261 - Avoid breathing dust

P273 - Avoid release to the environment

P301 + P310 - If swallowed: Immediately call a Poison Center or doctor/physician

P311 - Call a Poison Center or doctor/ physician

P501 - Dispose of contents/ container to an approved waste disposal plant.

https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=8425

mchannon• 8 years ago

This material is hardly exceptionally dangerous. Its close cousin Gallium Arsenide has been nearly the exclusive source of Yellow, Red, and Infrared LED's since the 70's. The screen you're looking at now would not exist without arsenide compounds, both for lights and for other circuit components.

While you could probably make yourself sick by taking old chips of this nature, grinding them up, and inhaling or eating them, or engaging in an accident with their raw materials during their manufacture, they rank pretty low on the list in terms of practical toxicity. Arsenic is a common trace element, and even (in small quantities) has been used to ward off disease in chicken and cattle.

It's not good for you, but this is a positive development, not a poisonous watershed.

strainer3• 8 years ago

If not limited to trace amounts for microscopic components, in the heat spreading role there could be demand for it in much greater quantity than elementally similar LED pigments.

Most manufacturing materials do not require such careful treatment and disposable -thankfully. The concern is not just about unusual behavior such as 'grinding up and eating'. This is a particularly hazardous material - as documented.

JohnJamesRambo• 8 years ago

There are many compounds that dangerous and it isn’t like you are eating it. It stays inside the tubes.

econochoice• 8 years ago

When electronics are thrown out and they either degrade or are burned for precious metals, those compounds are released into the water, soil and air.

otakucode• 8 years ago

Is the consumption or grinding and inhalation of GPU coolers a pressing problem?

jp5552• 8 years ago

The smaller the problem, the bigger the outrage.

Isn’t everyone flipping out over drinking straws these days? I mean non disabled people for which straws are extremely helpful of course.

Scene_Cast2• 8 years ago

The original article and the "full" article don't actually list any numbers. Looks like the performance is 1000 ± 90 W/m/K [0]

For comparison, a traditional high-end thermal paste may have 10 W/m/K, a liquid-metal thermal paste is up to 73 W/m/k [1]. Copper is 385, Aluminum is 200, Diamond is 1000.

[0] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/03/scien... [1] http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/liquid-metal-showdow... [2] http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Tables/thrcn.html

the84722• 8 years ago

Diamond is 1000.

The paper itself gives diamond as 2200 and isotopically pure diamond has even higher conductivity.

The question is whether it's any easier to manufacture than a diamond layer. Edit: The paper claims as much.

amelius• 8 years ago

Does this mean we can now have fully 3-dimensional ICs? (I imagine with stacked layers of silicon crystal).

magicalhippo• 8 years ago

So how would such crystals be used? Fairly large crystals as shims between the tiny silicon chip and a larger heat spreader? Or lots of microscopic crystals as part of a TIM paste?

dskhatri• 8 years ago

There are interesting non-metallic materials already in large-scale production which serve as excellent heat sinks and pipes. As an example, pyrolytic graphite has a thermal conductivity several times greater than that of Cu: https://www.mouser.com/m_new/panasonic/panasonicthermalgraph...

the84722• 8 years ago

Heat sinks and pipes don't matter all that much since you can simply increase the area to achieve higher conduction. The bottleneck is getting it from small chip hotspots to the heat spreader on top of the chip. So this would sit as a layer directly on top of the chip beneath the more conventional heat spreader.

Boron arsenide crystals can dissipate the heat generated in electronic devices

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