Undergraduate researchers have developed a pathbreaking innovation in the semiconductor sector. They pioneered a transformative approach known as laser-assisted cooling, selectively addressing hot spots on chips and dramatically enhancing cooling efficiency. This groundbreaking multifaceted approach may soon keep chip temperatures under 50 °C, overcoming one of electronics’ oldest hurdles.
The semiconductor industry is facing increasingly difficult programming burden referred to as “dark silicon.” To prevent overheating, up to 80 percent of the transistors on today’s chips need to remain dormant. With advancements in laser cooling technology, this heavy-handed approach to thermal management can be completely transformed. It allows chips to run at significantly greater frequencies, while protecting against excess heat. The potential implications for both computing performance and energy efficiency are revolutionary.
This breakthrough is based upon an enabling all-photonic cold plate technology that includes an optical coupler, down-conversion extractor, back reflector, and photonic sensor. This exciting new system draws upon the principle known as photonic cooling to deliver stunning cooling powers upwards of 90 watts. It’s far better than standard air and liquid cooled systems.
Understanding Laser-Assisted Cooling Technology
Thermal mitigation through laser-assisted cooling focused, or directed, laser beams are used to target and remove hot spots on a chip. This innovative approach to cooling is different from traditional, energy-intensive air conditioning. It specifically zeroes in on those hot spots pumping out tens of watts per square millimeter, cooling with deadly efficiency right where it’s most necessary.
The photonic cold plate uses anti-Stokes cooling, a cooling phenomenon that was first demonstrated in solids in 1995. This approach takes advantage of the laser material’s yielding characteristics, like those possessed by ytterbium-doped silica glass. Surely, that’s because when the solar energy is absorbed, it can quickly dissipate as heat. The scientific team ferreted out that laser-assisted cooling could bring an end to the dark-silicon conundrum. This innovation helps to keep a greater number of transistors on and functioning simultaneously.
Laser cooling allows for a broader approach by targeting localized hot spots with pinpoint accuracy. So, it’s able to dissipate double the power of conventional air and liquid cooled systems. Chip designs are getting ever more complex and denser, presenting bigger challenges. This functionality evolution results in ever-increasing power densities, exacerbating thermal challenges.
The Benefits of Photonic Cooling Systems
Perhaps most promisingly, a key advantage of photonic cooling technology is achieving ideal thermal operating conditions for chips. Ensuring that temperatures do not go over 50 °C to avoid thermal throttling. Additionally, this practice helps to mitigate the growing electronic waste problem by extending the lifespan of electronic components.
Furthermore, photonic cooling systems have the potential to recover as much as 60 percent of energy through thermophotovoltaics. This process more than doubles the energy efficiency of the original material. It cuts total IT energy usage by a staggering 40 percent and at the same time, doubles compute capacity. Further efficiency gains are highly beneficial to data centers and enterprises who are working to deliver better performance, at lower costs, and with a reduced energy footprint.
Primarily, photonic cooling can help tame the intense hot spots that produce thousands of watts per square millimeter. Equipped with this new capability, chip manufacturers now have captivating new prospects. By having better thermal management, engineers can create chips that run at faster clocking frequencies without risking any reliability or performance degradation.
Impact on the Semiconductor Industry
The semiconductor industry has been walking the precipice of dark silicon for the past 20 plus years. This challenge has dampened creativity, commoditized high performance computing, and constrained computing power. The introduction of laser-assisted cooling technology is a major step toward solving this key challenge.
This breakthrough allows more transistors to be permanently powered on simultaneously. To that end, we can all expect incredible increases in processing power and speed. As a result, industries that depend on the most powerful computing—whether it’s AI, cutting-edge modeling, or complex simulations—will be the big winners from these exciting advancements.
Once chip manufacturers start using next-generation laser-assisted cooling technologies, they’ll experience nothing less than a revolution in design philosophies. One aim of the education is to get engineers to start prioritizing thermal efficiency when they design. This pragmatic focus quickly expands into much more powerful and versatile computing solutions.