The Science of Keeping Your Chips Cool: Hot Chips, Cool Tricks

Almost every modern electronic device generates heat, whether we notice it or not. Without proper heat management, our electronic systems would either destroy themselves or, conversely, be severely limited in their computing capabilities. The average TechSpot reader will think, of course, CPU and GPU cooling, but why does RAM usually not need fans to keep it cool? Why is there such a huge disparity between the performance of a mobile processor and a desktop processor, even though their dies are fairly similar in size? Why have recent performance gains from new chip generations started to slow down? While transistor counts continue to grow, we're increasingly running into the physical and thermal limits of silicon. Leakage current rises as transistors shrink, and the heat generated per square millimeter becomes harder to dissipate. In recent years, the industry has shifted toward advanced packaging techniques – like chiplets, 3D stacking, and interposers – to work around these limits ... Read full article.