Author(s)

Hsiu-Che Wang, Alexander V. Mamishev

Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, United States.
Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, United States.

Thermal management of microelectronics demands higher heat flux removal capabilities due to the rapid increase in component and heat flux densities generated by integrated circuits (ICs). Electrospray evaporative cooling (ESEC) is a potential package-level thermal management solution for the next generation of microelectronics. In this paper, a design methodology is presented using numerical electrostatic field modeling to indirectly design proof-of-concept, micronozzle-based ESEC chambers. The results of the numerical modeling and heat transfer experiments indicate that the potential distribution near the micronozzle tip of the ESEC chamber dominates the heat transfer performance of ESEC cooling devices. The surface charge density at the micronozzle tips has a minor impact on the heat transfer performance. The maximum enhancement ratio of 1.87 was achieved by the 8-nozzle ESEC chamber at the lowest heat flux investigated, indicating that the heat transfer capability of ESEC chambers declines as the heat source density increases. The study demonstrates that increasing the number of micronozzles and decreasing the flow rate per nozzle may not effectively improve the heat transfer performance of ESEC devices.

Electrospray Cooling; Microelectronics; Microfluidic Chamber; Electrostatic Field

Wang, H. and Mamishev, A. (2012) Design Methodology for the Micronozzle-Based Electrospray Evaporative Cooling Devices. Journal of Electronics Cooling and Thermal Control, 2, 17-31. doi: 10.4236/jectc.2012.22002.