Thermal Management Research – from Power Electronics to Portables

Thermal management is critical for electronic systems ranging from servers and smartphones to radar HEMTs and hybrid vehicle converters. Rapid research progress is being achieved both on-chip and in packaging through new materials and microfluidics. One very promising area is thermal metamaterials, which offer unusual combinations of thermal, mechanical, fluidic, and other properties by means of micro- or nanoscale heterogeneity, porosity, and/or layering. Another area is the upscaling of the performance and efficiency of fluidic systems – both capillary-based and pumped, which remove heat to an external heat rejector. This talk summarizes progress and highlights collaborations with the semiconductor industry, US defense companies and the NSF center on power electronics (POETS).