Hot spot mitigation using single-phase microchannel cooling for microprocessors

The placement and arrangement of the different components on a microprocessor chip is examined to mitigate the hot spots that may arise on the device during its operation. The power dissipation of the individual components on a microprocessor is spatially and temporally non-uniform, possibly resulting in high thermal gradients and, as a consequence, high thermal stresses. These hot spots arise because the power dissipated by some components accounts for a major fraction of the total power of the device. The device then develops large temperature gradients and localized hot spots. These hot spots can cause device failures and a loss in performance that results when the clock frequency slows with voltage scaling to cope with thermal emergencies. It can also lead to lower yield.