Fabrication of micro-heatsink by nanotemplate synthesis and its cooling characteristics

The semiconductor chips or electronic components generate heat, which causes malfunction of the parts when it was not cooled properly. Bulky heat sink and cooling fan are used to get rid of the heat. However, with this bulky system, it is hard to integrate the electronics system in a small scale. The cooling efficiency of the system depends on the surface area of the heat sink, thermal conductivity of the material and the method of integration. In order to develop a novel cooling system, a micro-heatsink with a large surface area while retaining small volume was fabricated by electroless deposition of gold, silver, nickel and copper inside a Track-etched membrane. The structure of the micro-heatsink was investigated using SEM (scanning electron microscope) or optical microscope. It was also found that the micro-heatsink is more efficient than a flat copper plate.