Skip to main content
dd
CIC nanoGUNE
  • en
  • es
  • eu

User account menu

  • Log in

Main Menu ES

  • nanoGUNE
    • At a Glance
    • Organization & Funding
    • People
    • Join us
    • Life
    • Newsroom
    • nanoPeople
  • Research
    • Research
    • Publications
    • Projects
    • External services
  • TechTransfer
    • TechTransfer
    • Start-ups
    • IP Portfolio
    • Industry collaborative research positions
    • Strategic lines
    • External services
    • News & events
  • Training
    • Master projects
    • Bachelor Final Projects
    • Summer Internships
    • Education University PHD
  • Society

User menu

  • Log in
  1. Home
  2. New technology in the magnetic cooling of chips

New technology in the magnetic cooling of chips

20/02/2013

A team of CIC nanoGUNE researchers has participated in the development of a new technology that will enable the environmental impact to be minimized. The work has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Materials.

 

 

Luis Hueso, a nanoGUNE researcher, together with researchers from the University of Cambridge, among others, has developed a new technology in the magnetic cooling of chips based on the straining of materials. Compared with the current technologies, this advance enables the impact on the environment to be lessened. The work has been published recently in the prestigious journal Nature Materials.

Current cooling systems, be they refrigerators, freezers or air conditioning units, make use of the compression and expansion of a gas. When the gas is compressed, it changes into a liquid state and when it expands it evaporates once again. To evaporate, it needs heat, which it extracts from the medium it touches and that way cools it down. However, this system is harmful for the environment and, what is more, the compressors used are not particularly effective.

One of the main alternatives that is currently being explored is magnetic cooling. It consists of using a magnetic material instead of a gas, and magnetizing and demagnetizing cycles instead of compression-expansion cycles. Magnetic cooling is a technique based on the magnetocaloric effect, in other words, it is based on the properties displayed by certain materials to modify their temperature when a magnetic field is applied to them. However, the applying of a magnetic field leads to many problems in current miniaturized technological devices (electronic chips, computer memories, etc.), since the magnetic field can interact negatively owing to its effect on nearby units. In this respect, the quest for new ways of controlling the magnetization is crucial.

Magnetism without magnetic fields

The researchers Luis Hueso, Andreas Berger and Odrej Hovorka of nanoGUNE have discovered that by using the straining of materials, they can get around the problems of applying a magnetic field. “By straining the material and then relaxing it an effect similar to that of a magnetic field is created, thus inducing the magnetocaloric effect responsible for cooling,” explains Luis Hueso, leader of the nanodevices group at nanoGUNE and researcher in this study.

“This new technology enables us to have a more local and more controlled cooling method, without interfering with the other units in the device, and in line with the trend in the miniaturization of technological devices,” adds Hueso.

20-nanometre films consisting of lanthanum, calcium, manganese and oxygen (La0.7Ca0.3MnO3) have been developed. According to Hueso, “the aim of this field of research is to find materials that are efficient, economical and environmentally friendly.”

“The idea came about at Cambridge University and among various groups in the United Kingdom, France, Ukraine and the Basque Country we have come up with the right material and an effective technique for cooling electronic chips, computer memories and all these types of applications in microelectronics. Technologically, there would not be any obstacle to using them in fridges, freezers, etc. but economically it is not worthwhile because of the size,” stresses Hueso.

Today, most of the money spent on the huge dataservers goes on cooling. That is why this new technology could be effective in applications of this kind. Likewise, one of the great limitations that computer processors have today is that they cannot operate as fast as one would like because they can easily overheat. “If we could cool them down properly, they would be more effective and could work faster,” adds Hueso.

Dr. Hueso stresses that this is a very interesting subject with respect to future patents.

Original publication:

Giant and reversible extrinsic magnetocaloric effects in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films due to strain

X.Moya, L.E. Hueso, F. Maccherozzi, A.I. Tovstolytkin, D.I. Podyalovskii, C. Ducati, L.C. Phillips, M. Ghidini, O. Hovorka, A. Berger, M.E. Vickers, E. Defay, S.S. Dhesi and N. D. Mathur.

Nature Materials 12, 52 (2013). DOI: 10.1038/NMAT3463.

Download the Press Release

New technology in the magnetic cooling of chips (183.35 KB)
Contact:

Luis Hueso
Nanodevices Group
CIC nanoGUNE
Tolosa Hiribidea 76 E-20018 Donostia – San Sebastian
l.hueso@nanogune.eu

  • whatsapp
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • print

Related news

  • 06/05/2025

    NanoGUNE starts building the Quantum Tower

  • 01/04/2025

    Donostia, the spintronics and orbitronics capital

  • 31/03/2025

    Mariana Medina, interviewed on Radio Euskadi about “How to create microbots to help conceive a baby”

  • 14/02/2025

    Review Article Highlights 25 Years of Modern Near-field Optical Nanoimaging

  • 11/02/2025

    Scientists synthesize 2D polyaniline crystal with unique metallic out-of-plane conductivity

  • CIC nanoGUNE
  • Tolosa Hiribidea, 76
  • E-20018 Donostia / San Sebastian
  • +34 943 574 000 · nano@nanogune.eu
  • Facebook Twitter Youtube Linkedin Instagram Subscribe to our Newsletter

Menú pie principal

  • nanoGUNE
  • Research
  • TechTransfer
  • Training
  • Society
  • nanoPeople

Menú pie servicios

  • External services
  • Publications
  • Seminars
  • Join us
  • Newsroom
  • Contractor profile
  • Corporate Compliance

Menú pie grupos

  • Nanomagnetism
  • Nanooptics
  • Self Assembly
  • Nanobiosystems
  • Nanodevices
  • Electron Microscopy

Menú pie grupos 2

  • Theory
  • Nanomaterials
  • Quantum-Probe Microscopy
  • Nanoengineering
  • Quantum Hardware

Funded by

  • EJ/GV
  • Diputación
  • FEDER
  • FEDER
  • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación

Member of

  • BRTA
  • SOMM

Distinctions

  • Distinción de Excelencia María de Maeztu 2022-2025
  • Excellence Research
  • UNE-166002

Menú legales

  • Accesibility
  • Legal notice
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Confidentiality policy
by ACC