Scientists have created the smallest refrigerator in the world

A research team from the University of California managed to create a microscopic thermoelectric refrigerator, the volume of which is only one cubic micrometer.

Who and how developed such a refrigerator

A whole team of engineers from the University of California, led by Chris Regan, took part in the development. And the smallest refrigerator in the world was presented to the general public - a thermoelectric cooling device, the size of which barely exceeds 100 nanometers.

It is likely that soon such mini-refrigerators will become the basis for new technologies that will combat overheating of microelectronics.

Such thermogenerators make it possible to use the temperature difference to obtain an electrical potential. For these purposes, the famous Seebeck effect is used, for example.

But this transformation works in both directions, that is, if, for example, the Peltier element (in it the Seebeck effect is used) to supply current, then conductors with different properties can both heat up and cool.

It is this unique effect that was used in the new scientific work of Californian scientists.

In order to obtain individual crystals of semiconductors (bismuth telluride and antimony-vistum), the scientists were used an extravagant "scotch tape method" (thanks to which such a unique material as graphene).

From crystals obtained by this unusual method, engineers assembled a miniature thermoelectric device with a volume of only 1 cubic micrometer. And with such a modest size, the element has demonstrated its ability to cool.

At the same time, the record was broken for the miniature installation of more than
10,000 times and in their work scientists see significant potential.

What are these elements for?

As scientists assure, due to its diminutiveness, such an element is capable of working millions of times faster than a similar "refrigerator" measuring a cubic millimeter. And scientists see great prospects in the use of such coolers in the microelectronics of the future.

After all, they will be able to almost instantly and most importantly point-to-point cooling of the required areas of microelectronics.

The scientists shared the results of their work in the material published on the pages ACS Nano.

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