Challenges in Electronic Cooling: Opportunities for Enhanced Thermal Management Techniques — Microprocessor Liquid Cooled Minichannel Heat Sink

The volumetric heat dissipated by computer equipment at each level of the package from the chip to the chassis is having a tremendous impact on the thermal management of computer equipment. Because of the consumer’s insatiable desire for increased performance the competitive pressures are driving the computer manufacturer to pack as much processor/memory performance within the smallest volume possible. The consumer views high performance in a compact package as a benefit. These market pressures seem to be in direct conflict with the desire to continue to provide air cooling solutions for the foreseeable future. Because of these trends in power and package design other cooling technologies beside air are now becoming viable techniques but each must be weighed with many other factors that influence the cooling technology selected. These factors will discussed along with two specific IBM server packages and their associated cooling technology employed. Finally a microprocessor liquid cooled minichannel heat sink will be described and its performance presented as applied to a current microprocessor (IBM Power4) chip.