Conjugate Analysis of Thin Film Heat Spreaders to Reduce Temperature at Hot Spots

The effects of thin film coating on maximum temperature of integrated electric circuits are investigated. A fully three-dimensional conjugate heat transfer analysis was performed to investigate the effects of thin film material and thickness on the temperature of a hot spot. Two different materials, diamond and graphene nano-platelets were simulated as materials for thin films. The thin film heat spreaders were applied to the top wall of the three optimized arrays of micro pin-fins having circular, airfoil and convex cross sections. The electronic chip with a 4 × 3 mm footprint featured a 0.5 × 0.5 mm hot spot located on the top wall which was exposed to a uniform high-level background heat flux. The effective area of coverage of the thin films was also investigated computationally. It was found that thin film heat spreaders significantly reduce the hot spot temperature, allowing for increased thermal loads and therefore increased performance. Furthermore, it was found that thickness of the thin film heat spreader does not have to be greater than a few tens of microns.