Water-Cooled Server With Sealed Flip-Chip Modules
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Solution Overview
Problem
Rack-mounted servers face challenges with high-power chips requiring large heat sinks, occupying excessive space and limiting power density and manufacturability.
Innovation Solution
A water-cooled server design featuring flip-chip mounted electronic components on substrates with sealed enclosures, utilizing redistribution layers, thermal interface materials, and metal sheets to form a water-tight structure, allowing partial immersion in a tank with efficient cooling and redundancy for failed components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If large heat sinks are used for high-power chips, then cooling effectiveness is improved, but space occupation increases and power density decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the heat sink function directly into the substrate by integrating heat dissipation structures with the circuit board. The substrate serves dual purposes: electrical connection and thermal management, eliminating the need for separate large heat sinks. This integration maintains effective cooling while significantly reducing the space occupied by cooling components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional three-dimensional heat sink structures extending outward to two-dimensional heat dissipation pathways embedded within the substrate plane. By utilizing the substrate's internal layers and surface areas for heat transfer, the design achieves effective cooling without increasing the external volume of the server components.
2Temperature
If packaged devices with heat sinks are used, then thermal management is improved, but manufacturing complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions (electrical connection, mechanical support, and thermal management) into a single integrated substrate structure. This eliminates the need for separate packaged devices with attached heat sinks, simplifying both the component design and the manufacturing process while maintaining effective thermal management.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate is designed as a multi-functional component that simultaneously provides electrical interconnection, mechanical mounting, and heat dissipation capabilities. This universal design approach replaces multiple specialized components (package, heat sink, mounting structure) with a single versatile substrate, improving manufacturability and reducing complexity.
3Volume of moving object
If components are compacted to increase power density, then space efficiency is improved, but thermal resistance may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the substrate into multiple thermal zones with dedicated heat dissipation pathways for different component regions. By segmenting the thermal management system, heat from compacted high-power components can be efficiently collected and routed to specific cooling areas, maintaining low thermal resistance despite increased component density.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates liquid cooling channels directly within the substrate structure, using fluid flow to actively remove heat from compacted components. This hydraulic cooling approach provides high heat transfer coefficients that overcome the increased thermal resistance associated with compacted component layouts, enabling high power density without thermal penalties.
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
Achieves high power density of 500-1500 watts per cubic inch and improved manufacturability by compacting components, reducing thermal resistance, and enabling agile reconfiguration for fault tolerance and workload adaptation.
Implementation Method 1
Metal sheets are bonded to the polished planar surfaces on each side of the substrate using a thermal interface material (TIM)
Implementation Method 2
A water cooled server design featuring flip-chip mounted electronic components on substrates with sealed enclosures, utilizing redistribution layers, thermal interface materials, and metal sheets to form a water-tight structure, allowing partial immersion in a tank with efficient cooling
Data Source
AI summary
A computer module includes a substrate having a plurality of electronic components flip-chip mounted on the first and second sides of the substrate. After grinding and polishing operations, a polished planar surface extends across each side of the substrate, coincident with the back side of the electronic components. A metallization surrounds the mounted electronic components, providing a sealed enclosure that is partially immersible in water. A water-cooled server is also disclosed that includes a plurality of the computer modules disposed in a tank with cooling water circulating around the modules.