Thermal management of semiconductor devices using MEMS

technology

JKC Research Team: Gerardo Chavez, Agnes Chiao,

Braulio De La Torre, and Andrew Schwab

Resident Assistant: Mayra Pérez

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Payam Bozorgi

Faculty Advisor: Prof. Noel MacDonald

Department: Mechanical Engineering

MEMS: Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System

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Cooling systems for electronics

Problem: Overheating Electronics

VS.

smaller and more powerful microchips in devices

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More components requires more power, which produces more heat.

Objective: construct a MEMS device to improve thermal management of electronic systems.

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Thermal Ground Plane (TGP)

two-phase cooling system

≈800 μm

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Equipment used to find channel dimensions

optical 3D profiler

computer graphic image of a channel

220 μm

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Wick fabrication & capillary force

Cleaning Procedure:- 10 min. soak in acetone - 5 min. soak in isopropanol - Dry by nitrogen gas gun- 4 min. bake on a heat plate

` ` ` ` `

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Sample weldTack weld

Laser welding packaging

Miyachi Unitek laser welder

7

Verifying necessary water values for TGP

Fabricated channels are not perfectly rectangular

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Experimental data

Ti-TGP is 25x more efficient

6x lighter and

Much thinner

than copper heat pipe!!

Ti-TGP Vs. Cu-Heat Pipe (Current Technology)

Copper Heat Pipe Ti-TGP

Thickness > 3mm < 1mm

Weight -- X6 lighter

Thermal conductivity

400 W/m K 10,000 W/m K

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Expected improvements to technology

Lighter, thinner and, more efficient devices

Allows for more components in electronic devices

Less risk of overheating and damage

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Future projections for research

Titanium alloy substrate• Lightweight

• Nonreactive with water

• High fracture resistance

• Able to be micro machined

• Higher thermal conductivity

Etching processes• Effective for etching new

substrate

• Reduces difference between expected and actual water volume

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to

Dr. Payam Bozorgi,

The MacDonald Group and Professor Noel C. MacDonald,

The Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP),

The California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI),

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation,

The Cooke-Bridges Staff – Anthony, Ofelia, Jens, Jacob, Mayra, Javier, Jenny, and Jason,

and the other presenters, counselors, faculty and industry professionals whom we have met.

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Citations

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001793101300087

2

http://blog.dailyobjects.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Hot-

laptop-heating-back-panel.jpg

http://hlt.media.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_0888.jpg

http://mrbesilly.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341bfa6953ef01156f89b6639

70c-320wi

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Thank you!