DARPA is behind new microfluidics miniaturization technology that embeds microchannels directly into computer chips, helping to cool them down.

The
continued miniaturization and the increased density of components in
today’s electronics have pushed heat generation and power dissipation to
unprecedented levels. Current thermal management solutions, usually
involving remote cooling, are unable to limit the temperature rise of
today’s complex electronic components. Such remote cooling solutions,
where heat must be conducted away from components before rejection to
the air, add considerable weight and volume to electronic systems. The
result is complex military systems that continue to grow in size and
weight due to the inefficiencies of existing thermal management
hardware.

Recent advances of the DARPA Thermal Management Technologies (TMT)
program enable a paradigm shift—better thermal management. DARPA’s
Intrachip/Interchip Enhanced Cooling (ICECool) program seeks to crack
the thermal management barrier and overcome the limitations of remote
cooling. ICECool will explore ‘embedded’ thermal management by bringing
microfluidic cooling inside the substrate, chip or package by including
thermal management in the earliest stages of electronics design.

“Think
of current electronics thermal management methods as the cooling system
in your car,” said Avram Bar-Cohen, DARPA program manager. “Water is
pumped directly through the engine block and carries the absorbed heat
through hoses back to the radiator to be cooled. By analogy, ICECool
seeks technologies that would put the cooling fluid directly into the
electronic ‘engine’. In DARPA’s case this embedded cooling comes in the
form of microchannels designed and built directly into chips, substrates
and/or packages as well as research into the thermal and fluid flow
characteristics of such systems at both small and large scales.”

The
ICECool Fundamentals solicitation released today seeks proposals to
research and demonstrate the microfabrication and evaporative cooling
techniques needed to implement embedded cooling. Proposals are sought
for intrachip/interchip solutions that bring microchannels, micropores,
etc. into the design and fabrication of chips. Interchip solutions for
chip stacks are also sought.

“Thermal
management is key for advancing Defense electronics,” said Thomas Lee,
director, Microsystems Technology Office. “Embedded cooling may allow
for smaller electronics, enabling a more mobile, versatile force.
Reduced thermal resistance would improve performance of DoD electronics
and may result in breakthrough capabilities we cannot yet envision.”

ICECool Fundamentals solicitation

Source: DARPA