Experimental and Theoretical Evaluation of On-Chip Micro Heat Pipe

The performance of a specially fabricated micro heat pipe etched on a silicon wafer is analyzed to evaluate its cooling potential. Triangular microgrooves are etched on a silicon wafer via a lithographic process with two reservoirs at the two ends. Anodic bonding and electrochemical spark erosion techniques are used to seal the microgrooves with a thin Pyrex glass and to create holes for vacuum connections and coolant insertion, respectively. The cooling potential of the micro heat pipe is evaluated by accurately measuring the temperature distributions along the channel length at different values of the applied heat load. A mathematical model is proposed and numerically solved to evaluate the axial variation of the radius of curvature of the coolant film to examine the cooling potential of the on-chip micro heat pipe system.