A team of researchers from Peking University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Duke University is harnessing the remarkable properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to create highly sensitive, “uncooled” photovoltaic infrared detectors. This new type of detector may prove useful for industrial, military, manufacturing, optical communications, and scientific … [Read more...]
Companies Team Up to Develop Adhesives to Create 3D Semiconductors
3M and IBM plan to jointly develop the first adhesives that can be used to package semiconductors into densely stacked silicon “towers.” The companies are aiming to create a new class of materials, which will make it possible to build commercial microprocessors composed of layers of up to 100 separate chips. Such stacking would allow for dramatically higher levels of … [Read more...]
Making Sure Your Chips Don’t Burn
Researchers at the Tyndall National Institute at University College Cork in Ireland have found a new way of cooling semiconductors in computers, mobiles and games consoles to improve their performance and reduce energy consumption. Most computers have thermal interface materials (TIM) to join the chip with the heat sink, with solder or a thin, film-like sheet. Solder is … [Read more...]
Industry Analyst Names Firm a ‘Cool Vendor’
iWatt Inc., a developer of energy-efficient digital power supply control integrated circuits (ICs), recently was recognized in Gartner’s “Cool Vendors in Semiconductors” report. The company advances “digital power management” with its patented Adaptive Digital Control technology. iWatt uses digital algorithms to replace traditional analog control solutions, delivering size, … [Read more...]
Coefficient of thermal expansion
As complexity increases and dies and packages become even larger, temperature gradients also increase, leading to problems with thermal mismatch. Hence, thermomechanical analysis grows in importance. Apart from the temperature differences, the most important parameter describing thermally induced stress is the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE, or °), expressed in units of … [Read more...]
