CLAREMONT — Mikros Technologies, which has two locations on River Road, was recently named the winner of the 2022 Product of the Year award by the New Hampshire Tech Alliance.
The winning product, called a TU3, is described as a computer chip thermal tester, which can test computer chips at temperatures simulating their use in a variety of products, including phones, electric vehicles and data centers.
Mikros Vice President Drew Matter explained the product’s application and its development over the last three years.
“We do high-powered liquid cooling for data centers, artificial intelligent systems, electric vehicles, lasers and optics and also for semiconductor testing,” Matters said in an interview.
The TU3 was developed in response to an inquiry from AMD in Austin, Texas, which was unable to continue using its chip tester because of the extreme heat generated by the chips.
“Their computer chip tester was not able to keep up with the heat, and production was being threatened because the company could not test their own chips,” Matter said.
At the awards ceremony last month, Matter explained how Mikros was able to solve the problem and what the TU3 will mean for the company in the years ahead.
“We combined our high-efficient liquid cooling with advanced heating and fluid controls to essentially provide a turbocharger for the company’s existing chip tester,” Matter said.
Computer chip testing is done at extreme temperatures to make sure the chips can function in any environment, Matter said.
The TU3’s application will continue to grow as the heat generated by computer chips increases.
“The TU3 addresses a really critical issue today, and that is in our data-driven world we increasingly rely on more powerful computing, and the chips to power them are made with smaller and smaller transistors packed in tightly, and those spaces emit more waste heat,” Matter said at the ceremony. “Chips in a few years will be giving off as much as 1 to 2 kilowatts of power in a few square inches. That is a whole lot of heat in a very small space and it is hard to get that heat away from the chip.”
Matter said in his presentation of the TU3 that it will have a positive impact for Mikros and chip manufacturers.
“We believe it will certainly mean more efficient chip production because we are allowing manufacturers to see their higher yields on these increasingly hotter and hotter chips,” Matters said. “We see wider adaptation in what is a $10 billion semiconductor testing market with strong growth over the next decade.”
The thermal and fluid technology is adaptable and that will mean customization with other testers and other manufacturers as well, Matter said, adding that there is a huge cost benefit to the TU3. He said a new chip tester costs around $500,000 but the TU3 is $25,000, and the cold plates used in a TU3 can be swapped out when new chips come out.
Mikros was founded in 1991 by Javier Valenzuela and its first order was for liquid cooling for the space station.
“The first technology to come out of that were tiny nozzles initially used for cooling but later sold to the industrial inkjet market,” Matter said.
Liquid cooling removes heat better than fans that many small computers use.
“At some point the heat is so high, that air doesn’t carry enough of it away,” Matter said.
Mikros moved to Claremont in the Ashley Landing Industrial Park in 2002 and in 2016 bought the former Eagle Times building less than a mile south. The company employs about 50 at the two locations where manufacturing and research and development are done.
Matter said the Tech Alliance event was an opportunity to see a lot of innovation in technology around the state, which the Alliance looks to highlight each year.
“There were five finalists all doing great things. There is a lot of neat innovation being done in the state and I love being a part of it on our side of the state,” Matter said.
The company is also a member of the Granite District Council which helps to increase technology exports.
“Mikros is now highly engaged in many forward-looking projects with technology leaders that will shape our future over the next decade,” Matter said. “From next-generation self-driving systems to energy-reduction capabilities for data centers to high-power defense systems, we are proud to be a leader in the thermal management ecosystem from our home on the river here in Claremont.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
