April 16, 2004 – Cool Chips has opened a facility for prototype production of a key part for its cooling and refrigeration technology.

The Gibraltar-based subsidiary of Borealis Exploration Ltd. bought a facility in what it describes as the former Soviet Union. Chris Bourne, Cool Chips’ director of public relations, said the company would not provide more details because of security and intellectual property concerns.

The fully staffed facility enables increased production of core components for further development and testing. The location produces wafer sandwiches for the Cool Chip, a disc designed to produce cooling or refrigeration through the use of quantum electron tunneling across a nanometer-scale gap.

Bourne said the facility could be ramped up to full production, once final packaging and production issues are resolved. The company believes the technology could be ideal for cooling critical components in engines or microprocessors, and eventually replace compressors in refrigerators and air conditioners.