Superlattice microrefrigerators flip-chip bonded with optoelectronic devices

A 3D electrothermal model was developed to study the InP-based thin film In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As/In/sub 0.52/Al/sub 0.48/As superlattice microrefrigerators for various device sizes, ranging from 40/spl times/40/spl mu/m/sup 2/ to 120/spl times/120/spl mu/m/sup 2/. We discussed maximum cooling and cooling power densities for current devices, analyzed the non-idealities of current devices and proposed an optimized structure. The simulation results demonstrated a maximum cooling of 30/spl deg/C with cooling power density over 300 W/cm/sup 2/ with an optimized structure based on the current device geometry. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that a maximum cooling, over 10/spl deg/C with power density over 900 W/cm/sup 2/, could be possible when the current figure of merit of InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice is enhanced five times with the non-conserved lateral momentum. Besides monolithic integration, we also propose a flip-chip bonded solution to integrate these microrefrigerator with the optoelectronic chips. Preliminary 3D electrothermal simulation will be present to analyze its cooling effects for this 2-chip integration model.