Two-phase microchannel heat sinks for an electrokinetic VLSI chip cooling system

The trend towards higher speed and greater integration of modern ICs requires improved cooling technology. This paper describes the design and characterization of a two-phase microchannel heat sink in an electrokinetic VLSI chip cooling system. The heat sink achieves a thermal resistance of 1 K/W for a 1.2 cm×1.2 cm silicon thermal test chip under open-loop operation with a water flow-rate of 5 ml/min. Preliminary tests show that a closed-loop EK-pumped system running at 1.2 ml/min and 12 psi removes 17.3 W, with heat rejection at an aluminum fin array. Further optimization of the microchannel dimensions and the working fluid operating pressure are expected to lower the resistance below 0.25 K/W