There is a lesser-known type of materials called semiconductors with high thermal conductivity. Essentially these substances act like silicon – you can build electronics using them as a basis for microchips. These, however, have one exceptionally nice feature: they do much better than silicon when it comes to cooling electronic components (and computers).

A new study led by MIT investigated a certain material – cubic boron arsenide (c-BAs) – produced through a combination of boron and arsenic. The results are quite promising: this chemical compound can potentially become a replacement for an ubiquitous silicon which currently dominates the entire semiconductor industry.

The reason lies in its exceptionally good thermal conductivity. As the research team explains, cubic boron arsenide has the “third-best thermal conductivity of any material”, where the first two positions are occupied by diamonds and isotopically enriched cubic boron nitride.

And at the same time, c-BAs demonstrates other electronics-related properties comparable to a regular silicone or even better. For example, cubic boron arsenide exhibits simultaneously high electron and hole mobilities of approximately 1600 centimeters squared per volt per second, while in silicon the magnitude of the same parameter is even lower, 1400 centimeters squared per volt per second. Mobility of charge carriers is an important parameter defining the performance of modern electronic components, especially when high-frequency signals are being processed.

“The high ambipolar mobilities combined with the ultrahigh thermal conductivity make c-BAs a promising candidate for next-generation electronics”, the research team concludes.

Source: https://www.technology.org/2022/08/01/cubic-boron-arsenide-a-non-overheating-replacement-material-for-silicon/