Thermal management through microdroplet evaporation
Transistor scaling, breakdown of Dennard Scaling, and the need to leverage system performance through heterogeneous integration have exacerbated the thermal management challenge of high-performance electronic systems. Two-phase cooling, such as direct evaporation from non-axisymmetric microdroplets, is one of the most promising approaches. In NEITLab we conduct evaporation cooling by sustaining a stable evaporating droplet with a constant size and shape atop a hollow micropillar structure by replenishing the evaporated liquid through the central micropillar hole with a constant pressure microfluidic system.
Phase change material as a passive cooling solution
As the demand for smaller and faster electronics increases, it becomes increasingly challenging to effectively manage the generated heat without hindering device performance in applications whose thermal profiles are dominated by pulsed thermal loads. Phase change materials (PCMs) are heat mitigation materials for transient conditions. These materials can maintain a nearly constant temperature during the phase transformation of pure or eutectic substances, which are used as thermal buffers in electronic devices, especially in applications with intermittent loading profiles or transient power spikes. In NEITLab we work on the design and thermal analysis of novel phase change material.