3D Printed Liquid Jet Impingement Cooler: Demonstration, Opportunities and Challenges

Liquid jet impingement cooling is a very efficient cooling technology for high performance devices. Previous studies demonstrated that polymers can be used as a cost effective alternative for Si for the fabrication of impingement coolers. The recent developments in additive manufacturing or 3D printing technology enable the potential to fabricate low cost polymer coolers with complex internal channels. In this paper, the use of 3D printing is discussed for the fabrication of a chip level polymer impingement cooler. The paper presents the cooler design, the manufacturability aspects and the characterization of several 3D printed coolers with different nozzles arrays. The challenges and opportunities for the use of 3D printing for this applications are discussed. A methodology to provide design guidelines for 3D printed liquid impingement jet coolers is elaborated.