Variable thermal resistors (VTR) for thermal management of Chip Scale Atomic Clocks (CSAC)

This study reports the design and measured performance of a low-power package for thermal control of miniature precision instruments, such as a Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) using variable thermal resistors (VTR). VTR is a novel low power temperature regulating platform with thermal isolation structures and an array of vertical electrostatic actuators. A prototype of VTR was fabricated to verify the design and we observed desired thermal resistance variation of ~1000degC/W. To ensure no failure due to fatigue or stiction, long term operation was performed. We also demonstrated the temperature control of a constant power dissipating heater chip with plusmn1degC tolerance using VTR operation.