Electrochemical Additive Manufacturing for Direct Chip Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for cooling electronic chips, such as those used in data centers, face challenges with high thermal resistances due to thermal interface materials and limited design freedom in boiling enhancement plates, leading to inefficient heat dissipation.
Innovation Solution
The use of electrochemical additive manufacturing techniques to directly print cooling devices onto electronic devices, such as lids and heat spreaders, eliminating thermal interface materials and enabling innovative, high-surface-area designs with lattice structures for improved heat dissipation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If conventional cooling methods with thermal interface materials and boiling enhancement plates are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but thermal resistance increases and heat dissipation efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes thermal interface materials (TIM1 and TIM2) and internal heat spreaders from the cooling system by directly printing cooling structures onto the chip surface. This extraction of unnecessary components eliminates thermal resistance barriers while simplifying the overall system architecture, directly resolving the contradiction between heat dissipation efficiency and device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the chip mounting substrate with the cooling structure by integrating the cooling channels and heat dissipation features directly into the chip carrier. This consolidation eliminates multiple separate components (TIM, IHS, heat sink) and creates a unified structure that reduces thermal resistance while maintaining manufacturing simplicity
2Area of stationary object
If boiling enhancement plates with sintered copper coatings are used, then heat dissipation surface area is increased, but design freedom is limited and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements locally optimized cooling structures with varying channel depths, densities, and geometries tailored to specific heat generation zones on the chip. High-power regions receive enhanced cooling with deeper channels and higher density, while low-power regions have minimal cooling features, enabling complex adaptive designs that maximize heat dissipation efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from planar heat dissipation surfaces to three-dimensional cooling structures with vertical channels, tapered features, and multi-level heat sinks. This dimensional expansion creates vastly increased surface area for heat dissipation while enabling complex geometries that would be impossible with conventional plate manufacturing
3Loss of energy
If thermal interface materials and internal heat spreaders are removed by printing structures onto the chip, then thermal resistance is reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases due to new manufacturing methods required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical assembly processes (bonding TIM, attaching heat spreaders, plating operations) with a single electrochemical deposition process that directly forms metal cooling structures onto the chip carrier. This substitution of manufacturing methods reduces thermal resistance by eliminating interfaces while actually simplifying the manufacturing process
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
This approach reduces thermal resistance by up to 20% and increases maximum heat flux by at least twice, while maintaining reliability and scalability for large-scale chips, and can be applied in high-throughput production environments.
Implementation Method 1
electrochemical deposition of material onto a substrate
Implementation Method 2
selective electroplates by using an electroplating donor plate
Implementation Method 3
the chip cools down via boiling heat transfer
Implementation Method 4
two-phase immersion or forced liquid convection cooling
Implementation Method 5
it has to pass the thermal interface material (TIM 1), internal heat spreader (IHS), and TIM 2
Data Source
AI summary
A structure, comprising a strike layer on a thermally dissipative substrate, having a conductive surface; and a spatially-selective electrochemically bonded composite structure, containing inclusions bonded to a matrix of the electrochemically bonded composite structure. The matrix of the electrochemically bonded composite structure may be a metal, and the inclusions comprise solid particles of metal or high thermal conductivity non-metal. The particles may increase the thermal transfer rate and/or reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion of the electrochemically bonded composite structure.