A novel aluminum boss vapor chamber with 3D bioinspired wick for thermal management in electronic chip

Abstract

Aluminum has great potential in heat dissipation for lightweight electronic components due to its lower density and excellent thermal conductivity. However, traditional aluminum vapor chambers (VCs) face efficiency constraints in heat dissipation due to the issue of installing flexibility was not taken into account. In this study, a bioinspired wick with a three-directional (3D) fluid-driving capability was fabricated by integrating the characteristics of netted and parallel venations. Additionally, a sunken boss evaporator was engineered to enhance the compatibility between the VC and the electronic chipboard. The results indicate that the steady-state capillary climbing height of the 3D bioinspired wick is 53 mm and has a high capillary coefficient of 30.4 mm/s^0.5, which is pivotal for rapid liquid return in aluminum-based boss vapor chambers (AlBVCs). The AlBVC with a 15 % fill ratio (FR) has the best heat transfer performance, it has a minimum thermal resistance of 0.17 °C/W at 60 W, and the critical power reaches 200 W. The infrared simulation comparison was performed with the solid aluminum plate under natural convection conditions, and the surface temperature of AlBVC was significantly lower by 34.4 % than that of the solid aluminum plate when the heating power reached 40 W. This work indicates that the designed AlBVC will have great potential in the thermal management of high-power electronic chips, and it will lay a theoretical foundation for the application of aluminum-based VC in electronic chips.