The Computer as Microwave?

Clan Hanna asks: "With the newest processors that AMD and Intel have released, running at 1.0 gigahertz, chip designers may soon have a new problem on their hands more than can simply be solved by placing a bigger heatsync on the motherboard. Microwave frequencies run from 1 gigahertz to 1 terahertz. Currently processors heat up because they emit infrared radiation, but what is going to happen when they start to emit -microwave- radiation? I'm sure chip designers think about this in the back of their minds, but I'm just wondering if they have considered any real world solutions. If so, I'd love to find out about them."

Comments

Wait a minute...

[dufke]

...call me an EE major (I am one :-) but I belive infrared is ABOVE microwave in frequency. Anyway, most of the heat produced by a CPU is transfered through heat conduction, not radiation. I don't think the actual clock signal would cause much radiation. Clocking a CPU higher may increase heat production, but the frequency of the radiation (if any) is not directly related to the clock frequency.

Anyway, even if it did, the high-amplitude microwaves in an oven are stopped by rather thin sheets of steel. And the amplitude from the CPU must be lower. Remember, your oven draws multiple kW, while I damn hope your CPU keeps below 100W. (Otherwise, you have an Alpha, and I WANT IT! :-)
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