Researchers at MIT, the University of Houston, and other institutions demonstrated that cubic boron arsenide offers the best thermal conductivity of any known semiconductor material, and may be the best possible material based on theoretical predictions.
Only a small amount of cubic boron arsenide has only been made, however the researchers were able to test small regions within the material.
More work will be needed to determine whether cubic boron arsenide can be made in a practical, economical form, much less replace the ubiquitous silicon.
The team published its findings in the journal Science, in a paper by MIT postdoc Jungwoo Shin and MIT professor of mechanical engineering Gang Chen; Zhifeng Ren at the University of Houston; and 14 others at MIT, the University of Houston, the University of Texas at Austin, and Boston College.
