Breakthrough Metal Could Revolutionize Chip Cooling And Thermal Management

by Aaron Leong — Thursday, January 22, 2026, 12:35 PM EDT

A multi-institution research team has discovered a metallic material that conducts heat nearly three times more efficiently than copper or silver, which are presently the primary metals used for industrial thermal management. The researchers believe that this discovery will have massive implications for extreme heat-dissipation applications, like AI datacenters, for example.

A specific metallic phase of tantalum nitride known as theta-phase tantalum nitride (θ-TaN), was identified by a team led by UCLA and reported in the Science journal. Thus far, silver and copper have defined the upper limits of thermal conductivity in metals, with values of approximately 429 Watts per meter Kelvin and 400 W/mK, respectively. θ-TaN, however, has a record-breaking thermal conductivity of roughly 1,100 W/mK.

ucla led team discover — Sequence showing thermal energy (in red), carried by electrons, spreading through theta-phase tantalum nitride after the metallic material is struck by a pulse of light, from 0.1 to 10 picoseconds. (Credit: H-Lab/UCLA)

The secret to this super heat conductor lies in its unique atomic architecture. In most metals, heat is carried by free-moving electrons. As these electrons travel, they constantly collide with the vibrating atoms of the metal’s crystal lattice, known as phonons. These electron-phonon interactions act like friction, scattering energy and limiting how fast heat can move. Through AI theoretical modeling and confirmation through synchrotron-based X-ray scattering, the UCLA team found that θ-TaN possesses an unusually weak electron-phonon interaction. In the material, tantalum atoms are arranged in a hexagonal pattern interspersed with nitrogen, a configuration that allows electrons to zip through the lattice with minimal interference.

As AI accelerators and high-performance computing chips become increasingly more dense and powerful, they generate hotspots that can degrade performance or even melt components. Copper heat sinks, which currently dominate the thermal management market, are beginning to hit their physical limits. "As AI technologies advance rapidly, heat-dissipation demands are pushing conventional metals like copper to their performance limits," explained Hu Yongjie, a lead researcher on the project. The ability of θ-TaN to flush away waste heat three times faster could revolutionize how we cool data centers, power electronics, and aerospace systems.

This finding somewhat upends fundamental physics models used to predict how materials behave under stress. It shows that the traditional trade-offs between electrical and thermal properties in metals can be circumvented through precise atomic engineering. While θ-TaN is still in the experimental phase, its identification can provide developers a template in designing new classes of ultra-high-thermally conductive materials.