Context:
Researchers find alternative to cool supercomputers.
- Researchers from the IIT Bombay and C-MET, Pune have proposed using Low-Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) as an efficient alternative to conventionally used copper for making cold plates.
Cooling of Supercomputers:
- High-Performance Computing systems (HPCs) or supercomputers resort to cooling using liquid coolants and cold plates that dissipate heat.
- In liquid-cooled devices, liquid coolants like deionised water are circulated through system to remove excess heat.
- Cold plates are used like a heat sink transferring heat from circuit components into the coolant liquid and copper is presently the preferred material due to high thermal conductivity.
Use of LTCC for cold plates:
- LTCC is a technology used to manufacture ceramic substrates for circuits.
- Substrates are materials on which electrical interconnections are printed resistors, inductors, etc. are mounted.
- It facilitates 3D circuit packing, making designs more compact and efficient than conventional PCB (Printed Circuit Boards).
- LTCC can effectively cool microprocessor chips in supercomputers.
About Supercomputer:
- A high-performance computing system that delivers exceptional processing power and computational capacity as compared to general purpose computer.
- Performance is measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruction per second (MIPS).
- India’s supercomputers in the Top 500 list –AIRAWAT (India’s AI supercomputer), PARAM Siddhi-AI, Pratyush and Mihir.
- India’s 1st supercomputer – PARAM 8000 (set up in 1991).
PARAM Shivay was the 1st supercomputer assembled indigenously in 2019 under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
Under IndiaAI Mission, IndiaAI Compute Capacity will build a high-end scalable AI computing ecosystem.
Source: The Hindu
Previous Year Question
Which one of the following words/phrases is most appropriately used to denote “an interoperable network of 3D virtual worlds that can be accessed simultaneously by millions of users, who can exert property rights over virtual items”?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2024 Prelims]
(a) Big data analytics
(b) Cryptography
(c) Metaverse
(d) Virtual matrix
Answer: (c)
