Silicon interposer with embedded microfluidic cooling for high-performance computing systems

Abstract

A silicon interposer platform utilizing microfluidic cooling is proposed to address the off-chip signaling and cooling challenges facing future high-performance computing systems. A test vehicle with microfluidic I/Os and a micropin-fin heat sink was used to evaluate microfluidic cooling performance. De-ionized water (~20 °C ) was used as the coolant. At a flow rate of 50 mL/min, the measured temperature was 55.9 °C for a power density of 97.0 W/cm 2 . Compared to air cooling, microfluidic cooling significantly improves cooling performance and thermal isolation. Moreover, 3-D integration of two silicon dice with microfluidic I/Os on a silicon interposer is demonstrated.

3D Integrated Circuit Cooling with Microfluidics

“…Li Zheng et al proposed a silicon interposer platform using microfluidic cooling for high-performance 3D computing systems, in which a logic stack was embedded into the microfluidic heat sink in each tier and a memory stack was assembled side by side on a silicon interposer. High-bandwidth signaling between the two stacks was achieved in the system [ 42 ]. The thermal experimental results based on the measured thermal resistance showed a 40.1% reduction in the silicon interposer temperature with microfluidic cooling compared to air cooling [ 43 ].…”