A Study of CFD Simulation for On-chip Cooling with 2D CNT Micro-fin Array

The 2D CFD simulations have been carried out for a series of CNT micro-fin cooling architectures based on two dimensional fin array models in this paper. The influence of micro-fin structures, fluid speeds, heating powers and effective thermal conductivity on cooling effects have been obtained in the case studies, and the 2D fin array simulation results have been compared with our previous 1D fin array simulation results. The CFD simulations indicate that the fluid speed is the key factor of heat transfer, and the heat generated on chip is removed by liquid mass flowing in the channels of micro-fin architectures. The pressure drop between inlet and outlet of the cooling device is an important cause limiting the fluid speed, and the excessive pressure drop will destroy the carbon nanotube fin arrays. The simulation results in present work also indicate that the cooling capability of 2D carbon nanotube fin array is more efficient than that of 1D carbon nanotube fin array, that is, 2D fin array can reduce the thermal resistance of the cooler although 2D fin array causes more pressure drop in the architecture than 1D fin array.