I-Corps: Additive Laser Metal Deposition onto Silicon for Enhanced Electronics Cooling

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是微处理器运行温度的降低和计算机芯片性能的提高。电子设备产生的热量一直在急剧上升，这对微处理器的性能构成了重大挑战。特别是，热接口材料，即将电子芯片热连接到散热器的胶水，是一个瓶颈。拟议的添加制造技术通过将散热器直接打印到芯片上来绕过这一瓶颈。有了这项技术，热管理组件可以直接打印到电子封装上，而不需要使用传统的热接口材料。建议的热解决方案将显著增加热通量，从而实现更快、更高效的计算。这项技术将能够消除热界面材料，并可能导致更低的工作温度和整体能源节约。这个i-Corps项目专注于通过激光加工将金属粘合到硅上，用于电子冷却。许多重要的应用需要粘合不同的材料，但在不同的衬底上进行添加剂制造的研究相对有限。基于激光的加热剂制造散热装置能够在硅-金属界面快速形成硅化物，并在硅上制造小特征。这项研究建立在通过使用反应元素将金属合金低温连接到半导体和陶瓷基板上的传统工艺基础上，克服了传统钎焊中观察到的时间限制。在选择性激光熔化过程中形成硅化物的速度比传统的粘接技术快几个数量级。该材料还会在较低的温度下熔化，从而使固化后的热应力降至最低。通过使用选择性激光熔化，低温合金可以快速结合到硅上，形成具有坚固机械性能和低热阻的散热设备。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is a reduction of the microprocessor operating temperature and an increase in computer chip performance. The heat generated by electronic devices has been rising dramatically, posing a significant challenge to microprocessor performance. In particular, the thermal interface materials, the glue that thermally connects the electronic chip to the heat sink, is a bottleneck. The proposed additive manufacturing technology circumvents this bottleneck by directly printing the heat sink onto the chip. With this technology, thermal management components can be directly printed onto the electronic package without using traditional thermal interface materials. The proposed thermal solution will enable significant increases in heat flux, enabling faster and more efficient computation. This technology will enable the elimination of thermal interface materials and can potentially lead to cooler operating temperature and overall energy savings.This I-Corps project focuses on bonding metal onto silicon for electronic cooling by laser processing. Many important applications require bonding of dissimilar materials, yet there are relatively limited studies of additive manufacturing onto dissimilar substrates. Laser-based additive manufacturing of heat removal device enables the rapid formation of silicides at the silicon-metal interface and the manufacture of small features onto silicon. This research builds on conventional low-temperature bonding of metal alloys onto semiconductor and ceramic substrates by using reactive elements, and overcomes the timescale limitations observed in conventional brazing. Silicide formation during selective laser melting occurs several orders of magnitude faster than conventional bonding techniques. The material also melts at a low temperature, which minimizes the thermal stress after solidification. By employing selective laser melting, a low-temperature alloy can rapidly bond onto silicon to form heat removal devices with robust mechanical properties and low thermal resistance.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.