Overview latest technologies using heat pipe and vapor chamber for cooling of high heat generation notebook computer

The trend of the processor performance and heat dissipation increased significant every year. In the year 2000, the clock speed of processor used in notebook is marginal 1GHz and heat dissipation marginal 20 W, but in the current year 2003 the processor's clock speed is higher than 2 GHz and heat dissipation higher than 50 W and approaching 100 W by year 2004. Heat dissipation increased but in contrary the size of the processor reduced and thus the heat flux is critically high. The heat flux is about 10-15 W/cm/sup 2/ in the year 2000 and could reach over 100 W/cm/sup 2/ by year 2004. The purpose of this paper is to provide overview of various cooling solutions using heat pipe and vapor chamber for cooling high power processors in a confined space of the notebook.