Independent interlayer microfluidic cooling for heterogeneous 3D IC applications

Presented for the first time is the implementation of independent microfluidic cooling of different tiers in a 3D stack based on their power dissipation. The impact of this approach on heterogeneous 3D IC stacks, such as memory-on-processor and processor-on-processor with different power dissipations, has been experimentally explored. The junction temperature difference between tiers with different power dissipation is decreased from 12 to 7°C. Significant junction temperature reduction and thermal decoupling are achieved by this approach compared to air-cooling.