SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COOLING AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20090303684A1
• Filed: 06/04/2008
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Natarajan, Govindarajan, Bezama, Raschid J., Gardell, David L., Humenik, James N.
• Granted Patent: US 7,684,194 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 361/702
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/473 by flowing liquids H01L23/4332, H01L23/4338 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 165/908 Fluid jets

Abstract

Systems and methods for cooling electronic devices via enhanced thermal conduction in the gap separating an electronic device from a heat sink are provided. In one embodiment, a system for cooling an electronic device comprises: a heat sink spaced from the integrated circuit by a gap; and a bubbler and an atomizer configured to feed a mixture comprising an atomized liquid and a carrier gas to the gap.

Claims

1. A system for cooling an electronic device, comprising:

a heat sink spaced from the electronic device by a gap;

a bubbler and an atomizer configured to feed a mixture comprising an atomized liquid and a carrier gas to the gap.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the weight fraction of the atomized liquid relative to the carrier gas is less than about 1%.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the atomized liquid comprises liquid particles having a dimension of less than about 2 micrometers.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a vacuum system upstream from the gap for applying a vacuum to the gap, wherein the atomizer is located downstream from the bubbler and the bubbler is located downstream from the gap.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the atomized liquid comprises methanol, ethanol, propanol, acetone, another organic liquid, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, and wherein the carrier gas is saturated and comprises helium, argon, hydrogen, nitrogen, another inert species, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing.

6. The system of claim 1, being configured to continuously or intermittently feed the mixture uniformly across the gap.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the gap is a distribution of micro-gaps.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the gap is filled with atomized liquid bumps in a saturated carrier gas.

9. The system of claim 1, being a closed loop system.

10. A method for cooling an electronic device, comprising:

feeding a mixture comprising an atomized liquid and a carrier gas to a gap interposed between a heat sink and the electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the gap is a distribution of micro-gaps.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said feeding fills the gap with atomized liquid bumps in a saturated carrier gas.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein a weight fraction of the atomized liquid to the carrier gas is less than about 1%.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the atomized liquid comprises liquid particles having a dimension of less than about 2 micrometers.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising feeding the carrier gas to a bubbler located downstream from the gap.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising feeding a liquid to an atomizer located downstream from the bubbler to produce the atomized liquid, and then feeding the atomized liquid to the bubbler to form the mixture.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the atomized liquid comprises methanol, ethanol, propanol, acetone, another organic liquid, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing, and wherein the carrier gas is saturated and comprises helium, argon, hydrogen, nitrogen, another inert species, or a combination comprising at least one of the foregoing compounds.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the mixture is continuously or intermittently fed to the gap and is uniformly distributed across the gap.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein an amount of the atomized liquid present in the mixture increases as a size of the gap increases.

20. The method of claim 10, further comprising applying a vacuum to the gap.

21. A system for cooling an electronic device, comprising:

a heat sink spaced from the electronic device by a cluster of micro liquid bumps;

a flow network to surround the micro liquid bumps by a carrier gas; and

a vacuum assembly to sweep fluids from the system.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the cluster of micro liquid bumps are randomly distributed in an occupied area.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the cluster of micro liquid bumps thermally communicates a surface of the electronic device to a surface of the heat sink and simultaneously transfers heat to the flowing carrier gas.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the carrier gas is a gas or a gas mixture having a mean free path less than about 0.2 microns.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the system is configured to facilitate continuous flow, intermittent flow, or closed loop flow.