"That's what you care about in a computer. Not only how the individual devices heat up, but how the whole computer heats up. You take your laptop, put it on your lap, you eventually start burning your legs. That's the transfer of heat from the individual devices to the substrate of the computer, then to the chassis... on to your leg," Avouris said.

However, silicon and the newer carbon nanotubes work differently, so the researchers have to take a step back and understand the science of this new material, the researchers said.

The researchers examined efficient ways to transfer heat from the nanotubes to the substrate with the help of another carbon material that sits in between.

The findings are of fundamental scientific importance and crucial in the creation of thermal management systems that will regulate heat of future carbon nanotube-based devices, Avouris said.

This is initial research into understanding heat and cooling on carbon nanotubes, Avouris said. Many more steps are required in the research before any such devices could be commercially produced, but this is an extremely important step, he said.