Towards Ultra-compact High Heat Flux Microchannel Heat Sink

Trends towards miniaturizing the electronics devices and to increase the computational capability has driven the modern microelectronics industry toa state where efficient thermal management issue has become the most challenging and in some case limiting parameter for the further development of these devices. Research is going on around the globe to address this challenge and to come up with a solution that is economically viable and user level applicable to meet not only the current issue but also to address the forth coming heat removal challenges where 1000 W/cm2 seems to be a feasible target specially for the defense related electronics. Exploiting high surface area to volume ratio and high latent heat of vaporization, flow boiling in microchannel possesses the highest opportunityto meet this challenge; although boiling instability and pressure fluctuation limit its implementation in any practical devices. To harness the full potential of flow boiling in microchannel, new schemes need to be implemented to control the boiling characteristics. This paper presents one active (implementation of synthetic jet in microchannel) and one passive (surface morphology modification with nanostructures) flow boiling control mechanism which can be implemented easily and can tune all the boiling performance parameters positively. Flow boiling in microchannel with reliable control mechanism could be the solution for the next generationthermal management challenges arising from the microelectronics industry.