Alternating-Cavity Cold Plate for High-Flux Chip Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cooling systems for high-power density microelectronic devices face inefficiencies due to reduced cooling efficiency caused by design and manufacturing limitations, leading to increased operating temperatures that degrade performance, efficiency, and reliability.
Innovation Solution
Integrated cooling assemblies with a cold plate featuring alternating upper and lower cavity dividers that increase the surface area and control coolant flow characteristics, enhancing heat transfer efficiency by increasing turbulence and surface area exposure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cooling systems are used with simple cold plate designs, then manufacturing is easier and device complexity is lower, but cooling efficiency is reduced and operating temperatures increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cold plate is segmented into multiple cavities separated by cavity dividers, creating a multi-chamber structure. This segmentation increases the surface area for heat transfer and improves coolant flow distribution across the cold plate, directly enhancing cooling efficiency while maintaining a manufacturable structure through standardized divider components.
Solution Approach 2:
The cavity dividers extend vertically through the cold plate thickness, adding a third dimension to the heat transfer surface area. This vertical dimensionality multiplication increases the effective cooling surface without proportionally increasing the horizontal footprint, resolving the contradiction between enhanced cooling and structural complexity.
2Power
If high-power density chips are used to improve performance, then computing capability increases, but thermal flux increases and chip temperatures rise
Solution Approach 1:
The segmentation of the cold plate into multiple cavities ensures more uniform heat distribution and prevents hot spots by dividing the thermal management zone. This allows high-power density chips to operate at elevated power levels while maintaining acceptable temperature profiles through improved heat spreading across multiple cavity surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The optimized coolant flow paths through the segmented cavities enhance convective heat transfer by controlling fluid dynamics within each cavity. The cavity dividers create controlled flow patterns that maximize coolant contact with hot surfaces, enabling effective thermal management of high-power density devices.
3Temperature
If cooling systems are enhanced to improve thermal dissipation, then operating temperature decreases, but manufacturing complexity and production difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cavity dividers are designed as separate, standardized components that can be manufactured independently and then integrated into the cold plate structure. This modular segmentation allows each component to be optimized and manufactured separately using standard processes, reducing overall manufacturing complexity despite the enhanced cooling functionality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution significantly improves heat transfer efficiency by increasing the exposed surface area and turbulence of the coolant flow, effectively managing thermal dissipation and maintaining device performance and reliability.
Implementation Method 1
The integrated cooling assemblies increase an internal surface area of a cold plate across which a coolant fluid flows while controlling the property and flow characteristics of the coolant fluid as it flows through the cold plate
Implementation Method 2
enhancing heat transfer efficiency by increasing turbulence and surface area exposure
Implementation Method 3
a coolant fluid flows while controlling the property and flow characteristics of the coolant fluid as it flows through the cold plate
Data Source
AI summary
A device package comprising an integrated cooling assembly. The integrated cooling assembly comprises a semiconductor device and a cold plate attached to the semiconductor device. The cold plate comprises a top portion and a bottom portion horizontally adjacent to the top portion. The top portion comprises upper cavity dividers extending downwardly to define upper cavity volumes. The bottom portion comprises lower cavity dividers extending upwardly to define lower cavity volumes. The upper cavity dividers and the lower cavity dividers alternate across a horizontal length of the cold plate.