Cavity-induced two-phase heat transfer in silicon microchannels

Modern developments in microelectronics manufacturing and architecture continue to lead to reductions in feature sizes on microprocessor chips. The demand for faster and more powerful systems has approached the limits of conventional passive and active electronics cooling schemes. Future high-powered electronics require new and innovative heat removal methods. The research study presented in this paper is conducted in order to better understand two-phase heat transfer in a microchannel heat sink using FC-72 as the test fluid. The test section consists of an (1cm times 1cm) array of nineteen parallel microchannels etched into silicon with the following dimensions: hydraulic diameter (D_h = 253 microns) with a ratio of (L/D _h= 39.52). The base of each channel contains six re-entrant type cavities spaced evenly along the length. Each cavity, measuring 20 microns in mouth size, is used to promote controlled nucleation activity. The experimental results presented include the bulk fluid temperature and pressure at the inlet and outlet. To simulate the heat generated by a typical microprocessor, a uniform heat flux was applied to the base of the channel array using a series of thin film serpentine aluminum heaters. System parameters that were varied in this study include the applied heat flux and mass flow rate