Prototype Development and Exploitation of a Microporous Metal based Cold Plate for the advanced Thermal Management of Semiconductors Devices

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Thermal management of computer processing hardware is becoming increasingly important as technology evolves, producing components which test the capabilities of current mainstream forced air computer cooling technologies. Liquid cooling of processing hardware will become commonplace in the near future to enable the continued improved performance of processors. The project will exploit the significant thermal performance advantages of copper foam produced by Lost Carbonate Sintering (LCS) as developed in a previous TSB project; to be used in the real world application of processor cooling utilising liquid cooling technology. The project will produce a low cost, high performance LCS copper foam cold plate prototype for integration into existing liquid cooling loops. To deliver this project effectively Versarien Ltd will work closely with the Porous Metals Group at the University of Liverpool and CTech Innovation to transfer knowledge in order to exploit the potential of LCS copper foam as an effective cold plate material. By benchmarking the heat transfer properties and cooling capabilities of existing cold plates, Versarien Ltd will demonstrate the increased performance potential of LCS copper foam against the current state of the art. Innovation will be required in order to ensure manufacturing consistency in line with required parameters, specifically regarding uniformity of pore geometry and level of porosity of LCS copper foam. Manipulation of the material in order to ensure consistent size, quality and suitability of finish, along with innovative bonding techniques all must be developed; resulting in the production of a high performance cold plate, providing lower cost access to quieter, more efficient liquid cooling systems. Further opportunities for the material and the processes exist in additional applications such as fuel cells, LEDS, power electronics and the nuclear industry