Researchers at IBM have revealed that a network of tiny pipes of water could be used to cool next-generation PC chips. Scientists at the firm have shown off a prototype device layered with thousands of “hair-width” cooling arteries. They believe it could be a solution to the increasing amount of heat pumped out by chips as they become smaller and more densely packed with components.

IBM has stated its water-cooling technology could be used in products within five years time. The technology was demonstrated in the firm’s 3D chips, where circuits are stacked - one on top of the other. It was used in a few versions of Apple’s Power Mac G5 desktop computer in 2004. Laying 3D chips vertically, instead of putting them side by side, cuts down the distance data actually has to travel, improving performance apart from saving critical space.

Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory explained:

As we pack chips on top of each other, we have realised that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip do not scale. We need interlayer cooling in order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking.