A three-terminal magnetic thermal transistor

Abstract

Three-terminal thermal analogies to electrical transistors have been proposed for use in thermal amplification, thermal switching, or thermal logic, but have not yet been demonstrated experimentally. Here, we design and fabricate a three-terminal magnetic thermal transistor in which the gate temperature controls the source-drain heat flow by toggling the source-drain thermal conductance from ON to OFF. The centimeter-scale thermal transistor uses gate-temperature dependent magnetic forces to actuate motion of a thermally conducting shuttle, providing thermal contact between source and drain in the ON state while breaking contact in the OFF state. We measure source-drain thermal switch ratios of 109 ± 44 in high vacuum with gate switching temperatures near 25 °C. Thermal measurements show that small heat flows into the gate can be used to drive larger heat flows from source to drain, and that the switching is reversible over >150 cycles. Proof-of-concept thermal circuit demonstrations show that magnetic thermal transistors can enable passive or active heat flow routing or can be combined to create Boolean thermal logic gates. This work will allow thermal researchers to explore the behavior of nonlinear thermal circuits using three-terminal transistors and will motivate further research developing thermal transistors for advanced thermal control.

Dynamic response of a thermal transistor to time-varying signals

“…Over the years, various thermal transistors based on near-field thermal radiation, [6] nonlinear phonon conduction in nanoscale systems, [7,8] nanoscale confined fluids, quantum electronic systems, [9][10][11][12][13] and Josephson junction between different superconductors [14,15] have been designed and some of them have been experimentally demonstrated. [16][17][18][19][20][21] In many cases, with the help of a suitably designed electromagnetic field, the thermal control functions can be realized more easily.…”

Significant Reduction in the Switching Time of Solid-State Electrochemical Thermal Transistors

“…As an example of the former, Wang and Li theoretically proposed thermal transistors, which modulate the heat transport by a heat input. , Very recently, Castelli et al . demonstrated such a thermal transistor, which utilizes paramagnetic/ferromagnetic switching of a magnet to mechanically control the heat conductance . As an example of the latter, Ben-Abdallah and Biehs theoretically proposed a thermal transistor, which modulates the thermal conductivity of the active material (VO 2 ) electrically .…”

“…3,4 Very recently, Castelli et al demonstrated such a thermal transistor, which utilizes paramagnetic/ferromagnetic switching of a magnet to mechanically control the heat conductance. 5 As an example of the latter, Ben-Abdallah and Biehs theoretically proposed a thermal transistor, which modulates the thermal conductivity of the active material (VO 2 ) electrically. 6 VO 2 shows an insulator-to-metal transition around 68 °C, and metallic VO 2 shows a large electrical conductivity (σ ∼ 10 4 S cm −1 ).…”

Photolithographic Rugged Electrode for High‐Density Low‐Contact‐Resistance Coplanar Organic Transistors

“…Organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) have sparked great interest owing to their high mechanical flexibility and low cost, and have shown great application prospects in active-matrix displays, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] smart sensors, [10,11] and logic circuits. [12][13][14][15] Coplanar architecture (bottom-contact, BC) is the most promising device configuration for high-throughput production of high-density OTFTs, [16][17][18] because this architecture is well-compatible with photolithography technique without damaging organic semiconductors. However, coplanar OTFTs generally suffer from poor charge injection, so their performance is severely limited.…”