Micron-Level Actuators for Thermal Management of Microelectronic Devices

Failure rates of electronic equipment depend on the operating temperature. Although demand for more effective cooling of electronic devices has increased in the last decades because of the microminiaturization in device sizes accompanied by higher power dissipation levels, there is still a challenge for engineers to attain improved reliability of thermal management for intermediate and low-heat-flux systems. In the present study, an innovative alternative method is proposed and a computational parametric study has been conducted. A single microchip is placed in a two-dimensional channel. Different synthetic jet configurations are designed as actuators in order to investigate their effectiveness for thermal management. The effect is that the actuator enhances mixing by imparting momentum to the channel flow thus manipulating the temperature field in a positive manner. The best control is achieved when the actuator is placed midway of the chip length and increasing the throat height. Also, using nozzle-like throat geometry increases the heat transfer rate from the microchip surface. Doubling the number of the actuators, optimally placing them, and phasing their membrane oscillations all improve the cooling.