USC and UCLA research heat control for devices
A team of USC and UCLA students, professors and scientists has discovered advancements in thermal management of microelectronic devices such as cellphones and laptops. On Feb. 6, both universities released a paper in Science to discuss advancements found in their research on heat control of devices.
“This technique is sensitive to the bulk material, not just the surface,” said Matthew Mecklenburg, a senior staff scientist at the USC Center for Electron Microscopy and Microanalysis. “Measurements of temperatures hidden inside a device will enable better thermal management, which means faster transistors and lower power consumption. Your cellphone will hold its charge longer.”
The publication released information from team members, whom were led by Mecklenburg and Chris Regan, principal investigator of research at Regan Research Group at UCLA, Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The research team consisted of USC electrical engineering doctoral student Rohan Dhall, UCLA students William Hubbard and E.R. White, USC Viterbi associate professor Stephen Cronin and Shaul Aloni of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Currently, there is not a way to accurately measure the temperature of microelectronic devices.
According to the team, materials can change volume depending on the level of heat released; therefore, if one were to measure the volume or density of the material, it is possible to measure the temperature.
Members of the team tested this theory using aluminum because it has large thermal expansion. The group used a transmission electron microscope to shoot an imaging beam at the material to cause the charges in the aluminum to oscillate. Previously, the charge oscillations are known to change depending on the density of the materials, but had not been used to extract a temperature until now.
Mecklenburg said that manufacturers are already using the transmission electron microscope to measure their devices’ sizes so the new technique can easily be used.
“Every semiconductor manufacturer measures the size of their devices in transmission electron microscopes,” Mecklenburg said in a statement released by USC News. “Now, in the same microscope, they can measure temperature gradients in an individual device.”
The new technique is called plasmon energy expansion thermometry. The advancement in heat control will help devices productivity and efficiency said Mecklenburg.
The team will continue to test the technique and apply it to other materials such as silicon.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that the transmission electron microscope is used to measure temperatures. It is actually used to measure the devices’ sizes. The Daily Trojan regrets the error.