Optimized immersion boiling-based thermal management of heterogeneous three-dimensional integrated circuits

Abstract

To address the thermal management challenges of high heat flux in 3D integrated circuits (3DICs), this study introduces an immersion boiling-based cooling strategy using HFE-7100 as the working fluid. A thermal-fluid coupled numerical model incorporating a phase-change mechanism based on the critical bubble radius and bubble growth factor is developed to simulate bubble nucleation, growth, and departure. Surface tension and contact angle effects are also included to enhance microscale physical fidelity. A resistance-network-based structural simplification method is introduced to reduce mesh complexity while preserving thermal accuracy, enabling an 81.4 % improvement in computational efficiency. The TSV structure is reasonably simplified by equivalently modeling thin layers such as the resin layer, dielectric isolation layer, and Nitrided layer, which, despite their small thicknesses, have non-negligible effects on heat transfer. The model is validated through dedicated experiments. Five representative heat source distribution scenarios and varying Micro bump heights are investigated to analyze their impact on two-phase flow patterns, junction temperature, and heat transfer performance. Results indicate that a Micro bump height of 90 µm achieves more uniform nucleation and keeps junction temperatures below 61.4 °C, with an average heat transfer coefficient of around 2327 W/(m²·K). The variation in heat transfer across dies is kept below 10.3 %. The present study offers a physics-informed, computationally efficient, and experimentally validated framework for immersion boiling cooling in heterogeneous 3DICs, providing theoretical guidance and a scalable solution for the energy-efficient design of high-power electronic systems.