Fabrication of monolithic microchannels for IC chip cooling

A novel method to fabricate microchannels to be used in microelectronics chip cooling has been developed. The channels are made by microelectroplating with thick photoresist as the sacrificial molds. By removing the photoresist mold before sealing is completed, the channel can be made with only one mask. The cross section of the channels presented in the paper are 5-10 pm wide and 8-10 pm high. This method solves the problem of removing the mold from inside the extremely long channels (e.g., length-to-width ratio as large as a thousand). Unlike other methods for fabrication of microchannels, this method can be integrated into existing IC processes and delivers a practical way to cool IC chips with microchannels.