Tiny thermometers offer on-chip temperature monitoring for processors

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The semiconductor chips driving modern-day computer processors are covered in billions of individual transistors, each of which can overheat under stress, causing steep drops in performance. To address this, a team led by researchers at Penn State has developed a microscopic thermometer, smaller than an ant’s antenna, that can be integrated onto a chip to accurately track temperatures. Using an advanced class of materials that are just a few atoms thick, known as...