Thermoelectric spot coolers for RF and microwave communication integrated circuits
First Claim
1. An apparatus for cooling an element of an integrated circuit, comprising:
- a cold plate thermally coupled to a selected element within the integrated circuit through a path defined by at least one patterned integrated circuit layer;
a thermoelectric cooler thermally coupled to the cold plate; and
a hot plate thermally coupled to the thermoelectric cooler;
wherein heat is selectively removed from the selected element within the integrated circuit through the cold plate and transmitted to the hot plate through the thermoelectric cooler; and
the hot plate is exposed at a surface of the integrated circuit to dissipate heat into the surrounding atmosphere.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for cooling selected elements within an integrated circuit, such as active transistors or passive circuit elements used in a radio frequency integrated circuit is provided. In one embodiment, the cooling apparatus includes a cold plate thermally coupled to the region proximate the integrated circuit element, a thermoelectric cooler thermally coupled to the cold plate; and a hot plate thermally coupled to the thermoelectric cooler. Heat is removed from the integrated circuit element through the cold plate and transmitted to the hot plate through the thermoelectric cooler. In one form, the hot plate is located or coupled to an exterior surface of an integrated circuit, such that heat transmitted to the ambient from the integrated circuit element is dissipated into the atmosphere surrounding the integrated circuit. In another form, the hot plate is embedded in the integrated circuit substrate to locally cool elements of the integrated circuit while dumping the heat into the substrate.
-
Citations
33 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for cooling an element of an integrated circuit, comprising:
-
a cold plate thermally coupled to a selected element within the integrated circuit through a path defined by at least one patterned integrated circuit layer;
a thermoelectric cooler thermally coupled to the cold plate; and
a hot plate thermally coupled to the thermoelectric cooler;
whereinheat is selectively removed from the selected element within the integrated circuit through the cold plate and transmitted to the hot plate through the thermoelectric cooler; and
the hot plate is exposed at a surface of the integrated circuit to dissipate heat into the surrounding atmosphere. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. An apparatus for cooling an element of an integrated circuit, comprising:
-
a cold plate thermally coupled to a selected element within the integrated circuit;
a thermoelectric cooler thermally coupled to the cold plate; and
a hot plate thermally coupled to the thermoelectric cooler;
whereinthe hot plate is thermally coupled to sink heat into a bulk substrate within the integrated circuit; and
heat from the integrated circuit element is transported from the cold plate through the thermoelectric cooler and dissipated into the bulk substrate through the hot plate. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. An apparatus for cooling an element of an integrated circuit, comprising:
-
a cold plate thermally coupled to a selected element within the integrated circuit through a path defined by at least one patterned integrated circuit layer;
a thermoelectric cooler thermally coupled to the cold plate; and
a hot plate thermally coupled to the thermoelectric cooler;
whereinheat is selectively removed from the selected element within the integrated circuit through the cold plate and transmitted to the hot plate through the thermoelectric cooler; and
the hot plate is coupled to a passive element for dissipating heat. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
-
-
27. An integrated circuit structure, comprising:
-
a thermoelectric cooler formed in a plurality of first layers of the integrated circuit structure;
a circuit component formed in at least one second layer of the integrated circuit structure;
a cold plate formed in a third layer of the integrated circuit structure thermally coupled to at least a portion of the circuit component through a path defined by at least one patterned integrated circuit layer and thermally coupled to the thermoelectric cooler; and
a hot plate formed in a fourth layer of the integrated circuit structure thermally coupled to the thermoelectric cooler and electrically isolated from the circuit component, wherein heat is selectively removed from the circuit component and transferred to the hot plate. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
28. The integrated circuit structure as recited in 27, wherein at least one of the plurality of first layers comprise the at least one second layer.
Specification