High-Frequency Analysis of Embedded Microfluidic Cooling within 3-D ICs Using a TSV Testbed

In this paper, the impact of microfluidic cooling on the electrical characteristics of through-silicon vias (TSVs) is investigated for three-dimensional (3-D) integrated circuits (ICs). The design and fabrication of a testbed containing TSVs are presented for two types of heat sinks (micropin-fin and microchannel heat sinks) immersed in deionized (DI) water. The high-frequency characterization of TSVs in the DI water-filled testbed is performed and compared to conventional TSVs in silicon. TSVs in DI water demonstrate higher insertion loss, capacitance, and conductance than TSVs in silicon. In this paper, we also present coaxially shielded TSVs embedded in a pin-fin heat sink and demonstrate the electrical isolation of the signal TSV from the surrounding DI water.