Thermal design of a hierarchical radially expanding cavity for two-Phase cooling of integrated circuits

Abstract

A major challenge in the implementation of evaporative two-phase liquid-cooled ICs with embedded fluid microchannels/ cavities is the high pressure drops arising from evaporationinduced expansion and acceleration of the flowing two-phase fluid in small hydraulic diameters. Our ongoing research effort addresses this challenge by utilizing a novel hierarchical radially expanding channel networks with a central embedded inlet manifold and drainage at the periphery of the chip stack. This paper presents a qualitative description of the thermal design process that has been adopted for this radial cavity. The thermal design process first involves construction of a system-level pressurethermal model for the radial cavity based on both fundamental experiments as well as numerical simulations performed on the building block structures of the final architecture. Finally, this system-level pressure-thermal model can be used to identify the design space and optimize the geometry to maximize thermal performance, while respecting design specifications. This design flow presents a good case study for electrical-thermal codesign of two-phase liquid cooled ICs.