Apparatus for thermal characterization under non-uniform heat load

• US 7,651,260 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2008
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globalfoundries US Incorporated (GlobalFoundries, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamann, Hendrik F., Iyengar, Madhusudan K., Schmidt, Roger R., Lacey, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): VERBITSKY, GAIL KAPLAN
• Application Number:
  US12/048,620
• Publication Number:
  US 20080212641A1
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 374/4, 374/5, 374/29, 374 43- 45, 374120- 21, 374/130, 374/137, 374/147, 374/141, 374170-173, 374/178, 374/110, 374/112, 374/163, 374/183, 374/179, 374/57, 324759-765, 702130-136, 257/467, 257/499, 250/599.45, 250/559.46, 250/338.1, 250/559.34, 361/FOR.110
• US Class Current: 374/5
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/34 Arrangements for cooling, heating, ventilating or temperature compensation ; Temperature sensing arrangements thermal treatment apparatus H01L21/00
• 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

Abstract

What is disclosed is an apparatus for determining the cooling characteristics of a cooling device used for transferring heat from an electronic device. The apparatus comprising a cooling device thermally coupled to a heat pipe. The heat pipe having an exposed surface for the selective application of heat thereon. A localized heat source is selectively applied to at least one region of the exposed surface. The heat source preferably capable of being varied both positionally relative to the exposed surface and in heat intensity. A heat shield is preferably positioned around the exposed surface of the heat pipe to isolate the operational cooling device from the localized heat source. A temperature detector repeatedly measures a temperature distribution across the exposed surface while the cooling device is in a heat transfer mode. The temperature distribution is then used to thermally characterize the cooling device.

Claims

1. An apparatus for thermally characterizing an operational cooling device package, the apparatus comprising:

an operational cooling device as part of a cooling package for cooling an electronic device;

a test chip having a circuitry side and a top side opposite the circuitry side;

the top side of the test chip thermally coupled to the cooling device;

a localized heat source that is applied to at least one region on the test chip; and

a temperature detector for measuring, on the circuitry side of the test chip, a temperature distribution on the cooling package.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling device comprises:

at least one of a heat pipe, a vapor chamber, a coldplate, a minichannel, a microchannel, and a fan/pump/compressor.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the test chip comprises a resistive heater to provide bias heat.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

at least one beam splitting optical element for spitting a laser beam into at least two paths for supplying the localized heat source to a plurality of regions on the cooling device.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature detector comprises at least one of a thermal resistive sensor and a thermocouple sensor.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the at least one of the thermal resistive sensor and the thermocouple sensor is embedded on the test chip.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature detector comprises at least one of an IR thermal imager and a thermal reflector.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a blackbody coating applied to a region of the test chip to facilitate temperature measurement.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a thermal interface material disposed between the top side of the test chip and the cooling device.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising:

a blackbody coating disposed on at least one of the top side of the test chip and the cooling device, to measure the temperature difference across the thermal interface material.

11. A method of thermally characterizing an operational cooling device for an electronic device, the method comprising:

operating a cooling device;

thermally coupling a side of a test chip directly to the cooling device;

applying a localized heat source to at least one region on the operational cooling device;

measuring, at a circuitry side of the test chip, a temperature distribution of the cooling device, wherein the circuitry side of the test chip is a side of the test chip opposite the side of the test chip coupled to the cooling device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the cooling device comprises at least one of a heat pipe, a vapor chamber, a cold plate, a minichannel, a microchannel, and a fan/pump/compressor.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

applying a bias heat source to the cooling device.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the bias heat source comprises at least one of an electromagnetic radiator and a directed convective heat flow generator.

15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

splitting a laser beam into at least two paths for supplying the localized heat source to a plurality of regions on the cooling device.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein the temperature detector comprises at least one of an IR thermal imager, a fluorescence imager, and a CCD camera.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:

coating at least one region on the cooling device with a blackbody coating to enhance the temperature measurements.

18. The method according to claim 11, wherein the test chip comprises a resistive heater to provide bias heat.

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

applying a blackbody coating to at least part of a region of the test chip to facilitate temperature measurement.

20. The method according to claim 11, wherein measuring the temperature distribution comprises:

receiving a thermal image of an area on the cooling device with a photon detector; and

using the thermal image of the area on the cooling device to determine the temperature.

21. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

measuring an inlet and an outlet water temperature and a speed of water entering and exiting the cooling device to determine power absorbed by the cooling device.