Researchers from the University of California have developed the world’s first field-effect transistor that controls heat transfer, not electrical current. The switching speed of the unique device reaches 1 MHz. It can provide a rapid, measured, and even increase in heat transfer across the circuit, opening up a host of new applications for thermoregulation in electronics and beyond.

The common field effect transistor will be 76 years old this year (December 16). These devices dose the transition of electron flow from origin to drain by controlling the conductivity of the semiconductor channel with the help of an electromagnetic field. The thermotransistor works on the same principle, but only regulates the thermal conductivity of the channel with the help of the electromagnetic field.

According to the scientists, the prototype demonstrated the ability to quickly and precisely change the thermal conductivity of the channel by controlling the thermal resistance at the interface of various channel materials. The device demonstrated the ability to vary thermal resistance by up to 1300%. In other words, it not only turns the heat flow from the source on and off, but also significantly increases it.

The proposed thermotransistors are completely solid-state, which will allow them to be manufactured in the same technological process as conventional microcircuits. As part of the chips, they extremely precisely and quickly regulate the removal of heat from the required areas of the crystal, while traditional means of heat removal have large inertia and are difficult to adjust.

Finally, the fundamental foundations of physics that helped develop the thermotransistor will give impetus to the understanding of the mechanisms of heat transfer by living cells and will ultimately allow scientists to understand the thermoregulation of the human body, the processes of which are still not fully understood. understood by science.