According to this article on NewAtlas.com, “Data center servers, powerful smartphones, and your computer's motherboard have one thing in common. When these devices get too hot, their performance takes a hit, and we can't have that. That's why copper is used to manufacture them: this metal has high thermal conductivity, which means it can efficiently carry heat and dissipate it across its surface.”

But copper is expensive. And silver, which is an even better conductor, is even more expensive. Fortunately, researchers at UCLA have discovered a new material called tantalum nitride that delivers nearly 3X better conductivity performance and can significantly change how our future technology is designed. 

Removing heat from the microprocessors and other components is a critical step in electrical/electronic product design, and the introduction of this new material may prove to enable significant improvements, especially in high-heat applications such as data centers, quantum computing, and aerospace systems.