LAUSR

Abstract Increasing the power and reliability of microelectronic components requires heat sinks with greater heat transport performance. This study investigates the hydraulic and heat transport performance of a silicon heat sink under a constant heat flux of 100 W/cm2 with liquid coolant running through parallel microchannels. The coupled heat transfer through the silicon walls and the coolant, modelled as a single-phase fluid, is examined over the Reynolds number range 100 ≤ R e ≤ 350 for micro-channels of circular cross-section, with a straight tape, and with a twisted tape that induces swirl in the flow. Al2O3 nanofluid at nanoparticle volume fractions ϕ = 0, 1, 2 and 3% is used as the coolant. The microchannel heat sink with swirl flow and with the highest nanoparticle volume fraction concentration provides the lowest thermal resistance and contact temperature. Whilst it has a higher flow resistance than the micro-channel with no tape cooled by pure water, it has a positive trade-off between the gains in cooling performance and in flow resistance. This makes these configurations attractive for designing more performing heat sinks for temperature limited or temperature sensitive micro-electronics.