Future Electronics Cooling to Be Revolutionized by Innovative High-Power Thermoelectric Device

Future Electronics Cooling to Be Revolutionized by Innovative High-Power Thermoelectric Device

       A thermoelectric cooler that has been created by scientists has much higher cooling power and efficiency compared to currently available commercial units, making it a possible remedy for controlling heat in next-generation electronics. The system was able to maintain a similar coefficient of performance while displaying a 210% improvement in cooling power density.

Future high-power devices now have much better cooling power and efficiency thanks to a thermoelectric cooler developed by Penn State researchers. The gadget produces a better cooling power density and carrier mobility by using half-Heusler alloys and a special annealing technique.

Next-Generation Electronics' Revolutionary Thermoelectric Cooler

  Innovative cooling techniques are required for the development of next-generation electronics, which are expected to have smaller but more potent components. Scientists at Penn State have created a brand-new thermoelectric cooler that significantly outperforms currently available commercial thermoelectric units in terms of cooling power and efficiency. The researchers think that this advancement may be crucial for regulating heat in next high-power circuits.

 Penn State's Bed Poudel, a research professor in the department of materials science and engineering, is optimistic about the device's potential uses in the future. "Our new material can offer thermoelectric devices with extremely high cooling power densities," he claimed. We were able to show that this novel device can not only outperform the industry's top thermoelectric cooling modules in terms of performance and technoeconomic criteria. This invention will be advantageous for the next generation of electronics.

      The next generation of high-power electronics may benefit from half-Heusler materials' increased cooling power density and cooling solution. Source: Courtesy Wangji Li

The Mechanism and Challenge of Thermoelectric Coolers

 When power is applied to a thermoelectric cooler, heat is transferred from one side to the other of the device. A module with distinct cold and hot sides is the product of this technique. Electronic parts that produce heat, like laser diodes or microprocessors, can have the cool side placed on them to effectively remove the extra heat and regulate the temperature. Thermoelectric coolers will nevertheless require more heat dissipation as these components continue to become more potent.

 Comparing the newly invented thermoelectric device to the top commercial device made of bismuth telluride, it was found that the latter's cooling power density had increased by 210%. A same coefficient of performance (COP), the ratio of useful cooling to required energy, may also be maintained, according to research published in the journal Nature Communications.

Taking on Challenges in Thermoelectric Cooling

The paper's co-author and vice president for research at the University of Minnesota, Shashank Priya, discussed the capabilities of the new gadget. He said, "This addresses two of the three major issues in the fabrication of thermoelectric cooling devices. First off, it has a high COP and can deliver a lot of cooling power. In other words, a little electricity can move a lot of heat. Second, this can be the best option for a high-powered laser or applications that need to remove a lot of localized heat from a limited space.

The New Device Uses Innovative Half-Heusler Material

  Half-Heusler alloys, a family of materials with unique features promising for energy applications like thermoelectric devices, are used to create this innovative gadget. These materials provide significant efficiency, thermal stability, and strength.

 To control and manage the material's microstructure and eliminate imperfections, the researchers used a specific annealing method that manipulates how materials are heated and cooled. The fabrication of half-Heusler thermoelectric materials had never been done before using this technique.

Effects of the Annealing Process

 Additionally, the annealing procedure significantly widened the grain size of the material, which resulted in fewer grain boundaries—regions in a material where crystallite structures collide and lessen electrical or thermal conductivity.

 According to Wenjie Li, an assistant research professor in Penn State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, "In general, half-Heusler material has very small grains, or nano-sized grains. We can control grain growth from the nanoscale to the microscale with this annealing process, a three-order-of-magnitude difference.

 The carrier mobility of the material, which affects how electrons may pass through it, was greatly improved by reducing the grain boundaries and other imperfections, leading to a better power factor. Since it defines the maximum cooling power density, this power factor is particularly important in applications involving the cooling of electronics.

Applications of High Thermal Management and Their Future Consequences

"For example, in laser diode cooling, a significant amount of heat is generated in a very small area, and it must be maintained at a specific temperature for the optimal performance of the device," Li continued, elaborating on the significance of this development. Our technology can be used in that situation. The future of local high thermal management is promising.

The materials produced the highest average figure of merit, or efficiency, of any half-Heusler material in the temperature range of 300 to 873 degrees Kelvin (80 to 1,111 degrees Fahrenheit), in addition to having a high power factor. This suggests a possible method for enhancing half-Heusler materials for thermoelectric applications at close to room temperature.

One issue may be how microelectronics can handle high-power density as they get smaller and function at higher power, Poudel said. "As a nation, we are investing a lot in the CHIPS and Science Act. "Some of these challenges may be addressed by this technology."

An article titled "Half-Heusler alloys as emerging high power density thermoelectric cooling materials" was published in Nature Communications on June 6, 2023. It was written by Hangtian Zhu, Wenjie Li, Amin Nozariasbmarz, Na Liu, Yu Zhang, Shashank Priya, and Bed Poudel.

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38446-0

Amin Nozariasbmarz, an assistant research professor at Penn State, Yu Zhang and Na Liu, postdoctoral fellows, and Hangtian Zhu, an associate professor at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, all made contributions as well. 

Grants from the Office of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Naval Research, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and Army Small Business Research Program supported the project's researchers.