Thermal management of high temperature pulsed electronics using metallic phase change materials

A feasibility study for using metallic solid-liquid phase change materials (PCMs) in periodic power dissipating devices is reported. Thermal enhancement has been studied with PCM enclosed inside microchannels within semiconductor devices. Benchmarking experiments were performed with PCM inside copper microchannels and compared with numerical predictions. PCMs perform well at lower power levels for silicon carbide semiconductor devices, but the use of high thermal conductivity spreaders such as diamond becomes mandatory at the higher power levels projected in future applications. PCM effectiveness and temperature reductions as a function of chip thickness, channel width, and power dissipated are presented. Temperature reductions up to 25degreesC can be realized with a combination of diamond spreaders and PCM filled microchannels.