THERMOELECTRIC COOLING OF HIGH FLUX ELECTRONICS

Abstract

On-chip thermoelectric cooling is a promising solution for thermal management of next generation integrated circuits. This thesis focuses on three thermoelectric cooling applications for high flux electronics. A micro contact enhanced thin film thermoelectric cooler was designed for remediation of a 5kW/cm2 hotspot and its integration with manifold microchannel system is numerically demonstrated. In addition, thermoelectric cooling was utilized for thermal de-coupling of electronic chips with different operating temperatures, eliminating the need to over-cool the entire package. Furthermore, effect of decreasing contact resistances in thin film thermoelectrics was numerically investigated to effectively remove 100W (~280W/cm2) of heat dissipation from quantum cascade lasers. Finally, a system-level optimization methodology is established with comprehensive mathematical modeling, verified with numerical simulations. Master curves are generated to understand the effect of system-level parasitics on performance and optimal design variables. In conclusion, the advantages of thermoelectric cooling for high flux electronics is demonstrated in this thesis.