Toward TSV-Compatible Microfluidic Cooling for 3D ICs

Cooling presents a significant challenge for high-performance 3-D integrated circuits (3D ICs). To this end, this research explores through-silicon via (TSV)-compatible micropin-fin heat sink (MPFHS) for high-power 3-D chip stacks. Copper TSVs with a diameter of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5.2~\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula>m and a high aspect ratio (HAR) of 29:1 are developed. An extensive experimental and computational investigation of the MPFHS under varying flow rates and power conditions was conducted, showing that the MPFHS maintains an average chip temperature below <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$72~^{\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>C, even with a total power dissipation of 500 W and a power density of 312 W/cm2 at a flow rate of 117 mL/min. The minimum total thermal resistance achieved was <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.286~^{\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula>C<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\cdot $ </tex-math></inline-formula>cm2/W.