Scientists Create The Coldest Nanoelectric Chip Ever

A team of physicists at the University of Basel have successfully created what they claim to be the coldest temperature a nanoelectric chip has ever been cooled to. The team was successful in cooling the chip to a temperature lower than 3 millikelvins. The scientists are Physicists at the University of Basel working in the department of physics and with help from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute and other researchers.

The team used magnetic cooling to cool the electrical connections and the chip itself. The goal of the experiment was to cool the chips to as close to absolute zero as possible. Absolute zero is 0 Kelvin or -273.15 Celsius. The reason the team is trying to cool the chip to such extremely low temperatures has to do with the need to conduct quantum experiments.

These extremely low temperatures are the ideal conditions for quantum experiments and might allow the scientist to examine new phenomena. To cool the chips to such low temperatures, magnetic cooling is used. This technique involved cooling a system as a magnetic field is ramped down while avoiding any external heat flow.

The team was able to cool the chip to below 2.8 millikelvins and set a record low. Two cooling systems were used, including the magnetic cooling. The electrical components of the chip were cooled to 150 microkelvins, less than a thousandth of a degree from absolute zero.

A second cooling system is directly integrated into the chip and the team placed a Coulomb blockade thermometer on the chip to measure temperature. The thermometer itself was cooled to near absolute zero as well.

SOURCE: Unibas