THE HUM of a computer fan could soon be history. In future, the microchips
inside a PC could be cooled by armies of microscopic fans actually grown on the
surface of the chips—removing the need for a large, noisy cooling
system.
The inventors of the microfan, which is small enough to sit on the head of a
pin, speculate that it could also be used to propel tiny flying machines or pump
chemicals around lab-on-a-chip devices for analysis.
The fan, which has eight blades—each less than half a millimetre
long—was made by etching shapes into thin silicon sheets.…
