Running LEDs in reverse could cool computers

Removing heat from microprocessors is one angle scientists have been exploring, and they think they have come up with a simple, but unusual and counter-intuitive solution. They say that running a variant of a Light Emitting Diode (LED) with its electrodes reversed forces the component to act as if it were at an unusually low temperature. Placing it next to warmer electronics, then, with a nanoscale gap introduced, causes the LED to suck out the heat. “Once the LED is reverse biased, it began acting as a very low temperature object, absorbing photons,” says Edgar Meyhofer, professor of mechanical engineering at University of Michigan, in a press release announcing the breakthrough. “At the same time, the gap prevents heat from traveling back, resulting in a cooling effect.”