Purdue's carbon nanotubes could trump heat sinks

via Engadget


For the second time in the past few months, Purdue University is hitting us up with a newfangled idea to keep future rigs cooler.

This go 'round, engineers have purportedly figured out how to "grow forests of carbon nanotubes onto the surfaces of computer chips to enhance the flow of heat at a critical point where the chips connect to heat sinks." The nanotubes have outperformed "conventional thermal interface materials" in testing, and being that they don't require "elaborate clean-room environments" to produce, manufacturing them should prove much cheaper to boot.

Regrettably, there's no word as to when this development could go commercial, but with users demanding more power and less noise, we're sure there's a market waiting.