Development of a chip-integrated micro cooling device

An experimental/computation investigation was carried out to develop a MEMS-based micro cooling device to provide direct cooling to high heat flux electronics and MEMS devices. This device uses the electrohydrodynamic principles to pump and form an ultra thin film over a heated surface that requires cooling. The important part is played by applying an electric field to a set of interdigitated inclined electrodes to pump and form a thin film and to remove heat by thin film evaporation process. The dimension of the active electrode area of the device was 32 x 32 mm(2). The electrodes were separated by a distance of 20 mum at the bottom and 60 mum at the top. The electrodes were connected to a single common electrode at the top and bottom. Static pumping pressure and heat transfer experiments were performed using 3M's HFE-7100 thermal fluid manufactured by the 3M Corporation. Due to the small gap between electrodes (20 mum) all experiments were performed inside a class 100 cleanroom. Cooling rates of 35 W/cm(2) were obtained at a superheat of 19 degreesC. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.