Quantitative thermal performance evaluation of a cost-effective vapor chamber heat sink containing a metal-etched microwick structure for advanced microprocessor cooling

This paper evaluates the thermal performance of an acetone-charged vapor chamber heat sink containing new microwick structures for cooling microprocessors in PC desktop applications. To obtain a high microchannel-aspect ratio, three metal-etched wick plates were stacked and inserted into the 2-mm high vapor chamber. Cooling performance was examined by measuring the working temperatures and thermal resistances for the various heat inputs and for three different angles of tilt. The assembled vapor chamber heat sink showed a heat removal capacity of 80 W/cm2 at the junction temperature of 85 °C and an ambient temperature of 24 °C, indicating an overall thermal resistance of 0.76 °C/W. It also worked successfully for a high heat input of 140 W.