Thermal and Hydraulic Design and Characterization of a Liquid-Cooled 3D Silicon Module

Thermal management in 3D packaging is a critical factor to be considered in enabling this technology to be exploited further. Heat density in excess of 100 W/cm² can be achieved due to the smaller footprint of such packages. Liquid cooling through microchannels embedded within the package had been shown to improve the thermal characteristics of packages. In this work, a liquid cooling solution is designed with emphasis on the flow distribution through the microchannels. The use of a reducing plenum design had been shown to lower the pressure drop requirement while improving the thermal characteristics. The thermal implication with achieving deep channels through the DRIE process is an introduction of a significant thermal resistance to the overall thermal network. Numerical modeling of the actual physical components in the cooling module had also being done to evaluate the system operating points and hence sizing the pump. The approach taken in this work identified the issues faced when embedding heat transfer features within the package and in a cooling solution. The system modeling had also been shown to provide a good estimate of the operating conditions within the physical module.