(November 1, 2006) RUESCHLIKON, Switzerland &#151 In a new twist on the phrase “art imitates life,” researchers at IBM are developing an approach to cooling active packages based on a concept pulled from biology. “High thermal conductivity interface technology” involves structuring branched channels to function very similarly to the human circulatory system. Hierarchically organized to move large volumes of heat with minimal use of energy, the channels are built into a chip cap, where thermal interface material (TIM) is applied. The air-cooling technique, along with a similarly designed, closed-loop water method, is under development at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in Switzerland, where a biologists’ perspective permeates chip/package design.