Heat Flow Control : from Thermal

Transistor to Thermal Logic Gate

Wang Lei
Department of Physics, Renmin University of China,
Department of Physics and Centre for Computational Science and
Engineering, National University of Singapore
Transmission of Information and Energy
in Nonlinear and Complex Systems
(TIENCS) 2008
Motivation:
When it comes to transporting energy, nature has two vital
tools: conduction by heat and by electricity. Electricity, by way of
the electronic transistor and other devices that control the flow of
charge, has enabled technological developments that have
improved many aspects of our lives. But similar devices that
allow the flow of heat to be controlled are still not available.
To make thermal devices that control heat flow
just like what we have done for electric charge flow.
Outline:
1 Negative Differential Thermal Resistance
2 Model of Thermal transistor
3 Thermal Logic Gate
1 Negative Differential Thermal Resistance (NDTR)
1.1 WAHT is Negative Differential Thermal Resistance
1
|
.
|

\
|
A c
c
=
T
J
R
Normally larger the temperature difference, larger
the heat current J, namely positive R.
Is the negative R, i.e., lower temperature
difference higher heat flow, possible?
When temperature difference exists, heat flows
from high temperature to low temperature,
A water pipe
Low pressure,
low flow.
High pressure,
high flow.
Pressure dependent valve
high pressure
narrow valve
high flow
low flow
Two factors compete, negative differential
resistance is thus possible!
low pressure
broad valve
low flow
high flow
?
?
Match and mismatch of the power spectra of coupled materials
x t a x x

e e + = cos
2
0
2 2 2 2 2
0
) (
) cos(
e e e
e
+
=
+ =
a
b
t b x
Then, the response:

1.2 How to Make a Negative Differential Thermal
Resistance
Make a smart thermal valve.

0
Resonance phenomenon
As the frequency of the external driven force equals
the own frequency of the linear oscillator, the
response reaches its maximum.
As the power spectra of two systems match each
other, energy can easily flow from one to the other.
Suppose the power spectra of one of the two coupled
segments is temperature dependent.
T
L
T
R
right segment
left segment
p
o
w
e
r
frequency
p
o
w
e
r
frequency
right segment
left segment
Smaller T
L
larger T
Large T
L
smaller T
T
L
<T
R
In principal power spectra of any nonlinear system
is temperature dependent.
Our choice: Frenkel-Kontorova (FK) model
i i i
i
i
y
V
y y K
m
p
H t
t
2 cos
) 2 (
) (
2
1
2
2
2
1
2
+ =

Sensitive temperature dependence
High frequency
Low frequency
When the energy of
particles is more or less the
critical value, the
temperature dependence
reaches its maximum. Then
we can see clear NDTR.
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
P
o
w
e
r
J=2.8E-7
T
L
=0.01
frequency
particle at left
particle at right
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
frequency
J=9.5E-5
T
L
=0.06
particle at left
particle at right
P
o
w
e
r
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
P
o
w
e
r
frequency
J=3.5E-4
T
L
=0.11
particle at left
particle at right
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
P
o
w
e
r
frequency
J=1.272E-4
T
L
=0.18
particle at left
particle at right
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
0.00000
0.00005
0.00010
0.00015
0.00020
0.00025
0.00030
0.00035
0.00040
J
T
L
T
L
T
R
1.3 Why do we need a Negative Differential Thermal
Resistance?
Thermal transistor
2 Model of Thermal transistor
G(Gate)
D(Drain)
S(Source)
V
D
(+)
V
S
(-)
I
S
I
D
I
G
2.1 Field-Effect-Transistor (FET):
I
G
0


V
G

T
S
=T
-
T
O
J
S
J
D
At steady state: J
S
=J
D
Segment D
Segment S
J
D
=J
S
T
os
T
+
T
-
J
T
o
J
D
J
S
T
D
=T
+
O
T
+
>T
-
J
G
=J
S
-J
D
J
S
J
D
T
ob
T
o
at NESS
T
+
T
-
J
T
o
J
D
J
S
) /(
/
/
D S S
O O
O D
O
D
R R R
T J
T J
J
J
+ =
c c
c c
=
c
c
= o
current amplification factor:
Normal situation: R
S,
R
D
>0
Therefore: <1
If either R
S
or R
D
is negative, can be greater than 1
thus the thermal transistor works.
The transistor does NOT work!!
0.00 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16
6
T
O'
T
O
"off"
"on"
T
O
G
S
D
(b)
(a)
J
G
J
S
J
D
0

O
4
2
J
(
1
0
-
4
)
k
int
G
k
int
T
S
=T
-
T
D
=T
+
T
G
T
G
J
S
J
D
J
G
O'
R
G
is negligible
thus T
O
=T
G
At the three crosses, J
G
=0.
Heat flow switch
In the working region: T
G
= 0.05 ~0.135
J
D
=5e-5~2e-4
While J
G
=-1e-5~1e-5

Heat flow
modulator
3 Thermal Logic Gate
3.1 Thermal repeater
3.0 standard voltages (temperature)
Transistor-transistor logic (TTL):
V
high
=5.0 v, V
low
=0.0 v

<
>
=
c in off
c in on
out
T T if T
T T if T
T
,
,
Here we use T
on
and T
off
as the two
standard temperatures.
A repeater standardize the input, when it is
slightly different from T
on
/T
off
.
0.00 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16
6
T
O'
T
O
"off"
"on"
T
O
G
S D
(b)
(a)
J
G
J
S
J
D
0

O
4
2
J
(
1
0
-
4
)
k
int
G
k
int
T
S
=T
-
T
D
=T
+
T
G
T
G
J
S
J
D
J
G
O'
suppose T
G
is slightly greater than
T
on
, then JS>JD, thus JG >0

suppose R
G
is taken into account,
Then T
O
<T
G
, thus is closer to T
on
.
As T
G
is closer to T
on
/T
off
, T
O
is always even closer, i.e., T
on
and T
off

are two stable fixed points of the function: T
O
(T
G
)


T
O
T
G
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
O' O'
O O
D D
S S
T
-
T
-
T
+
T
+
O
O'
(b)
T
on
T
off
T
o
u
t
p
u
t
T
input
output of the 1st transistor
output of the 2nd transistor
output of the 6th transistor
ideal repeater
T
c
T
+
D
G
S
input output
Thermal repeater
T
-
(a)
......
Output of a six-transistor
repeater
If we connect them in
series, the final output
will be closer and
closer to that of an
ideal repeater.
3.2 Thermal NOT gate

=
=
=
on in off
off in on
out
T T if T
T T if T
T
Notice: as T
in
increases, T
out
however decreases.
Question: can we cool down one part of a
system by warming up another part?!
0.00 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16
6
T
O'
T
O
"off"
"on"
T
O
G
S D
(b)
(a)
J
G
J
S
J
D
0

O
4
2
J
(
1
0
-
4
)
k
int
G
k
int
T
S
=T
-
T
D
=T
+
T
G
T
G
J
S
J
D
J
G
O'
T
O
increases
J
D
increases, R
D
is nearly fixed
Temperature drop in
segment D ( T
D
-T
O
)
increases
T
D
is fixed, thus T
O

decreases
Lets study T
O
(T
O
).
This is in fact possible.
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
ideal NOT gate
(b)
T
o
u
t
p
u
t
T
input
T
+
T
-
T
-
G
D
S
O
O'
input
Thermal NOT gate
plug into a repeater
(a)
temperature
divider
V
out
R
2
V
R
1
voltage divider
V
out
=VR
2
/(R
1
+R
2
)
3.3 Thermal AND/OR gate
AND/OR gate is a three terminal ( two inputs one output) device.
If two inputs are the same, the output of AND/OR gate follows,
otherwise AND/OR gate output off/on.
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
0.14
0.16
G
S
D
T
-
T
+
(c)
Thermal OR gate
T
input2
=T
off
=0.03
T
o
u
t
p
u
t
T
input1
plug into a repeater
input2
input1
Thermal AND and OR gates
S
O
O'
(a)
T
-
G
D
O
O'
T
+
ideal AND gate
(b)
Thermal AND gate
T
input2
=T
on
=0.16
ideal OR gate
It is clear that when the two
inputs are the same, the
output must follow.
By adjusting some parameters
e.g., the critical temperature of
the repeater, it is also easy to
output off/on, thus a
AND/OR gate is realized.
Summary:
Based on the novel physical phenomenon Negative
Differential Thermal Resistance, thermal transistor that
control heat flow becomes possible. By combining thermal
transistor in different ways, one can also build up thermal
logic gates that realize all the basic logic operations.
Although at this moment these are only pure theoretical (toy)
models, this still opens the possibility that, heat energy
already present in abundance in electronic devices, can be
used to process information and even to do computation.
Phononics
References:
Baowen Li, Lei Wang, and Giulio Casati, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 143501 (2006);

Lei Wang and Baowen Li, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 177208 (2007);

Lei Wang and Baowen Li, Physics World 21, no.3, 27 (2008).
Acknowledgement
Prof. Baowen LI (NUS)
Prof. Giulio CASATI (NUS/Como, Italy)
Dr. Jinghua LAN (NUS, IHPC/A*STAR)
Dr. Nianbei LI (NUS)
Mr. Nuo YANG (NUS)
Mr. Weichung LO (NUS, IHPC/A*STAR)
......
Other members in CCSE.
Collaborators
Renmin University of China
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Wang Lei
phywanglei@ruc.edu.cn