Modelling of graphene and few-layer graphene heat spreaders for hot-spot cooling

We studied the heat propagation in Ti/Pt/Au micro-heater embedded thermal testing chips by computer simulations. Graphene was considered to be incorporated within the chips as a heat spreader in order to utilize its extremely high thermal conductivity. The classical heat conduction equation was solved numerically using the finite element analysis method. We found a linear relation between the temperature of the hot spot and the imposed heat flux, and a graphene spreader could effectively decrease the temperature of the micro-heater. These findings are in satisfying agreement with experimental measurements. In order to better understand the mechanisms behind these phenomena, the temperature distribution along the device surface was plotted and compared for systems with and without a graphene spreader. These results provide a better insight of graphene-based materials as heat spreaders and yield useful information to help improving heat removal from electronic devices.