Cooling of microelectronics by shear-driven liquid films

The recent development of microelectronics is closely linked to the problem of thermal regulation. The levels of heat generation in high-speed computer chips are now approaching very high values and they are on the edge of exceeding the capabilities of today's air-cooling techniques. Thin liquid films may provide very high heat transfer intensity and may be used for cooling of microelectronics. A particularly promising technological solution is a set-up where heat is transferred to a very thin liquid film driven by a forced gas or vapor flow in a micro-channel. However, development such a cooling system requires significant advances in fundamental research, since the stability of joint flow of liquid film and gas is rather complex problem. Flow patterns, heat transfer laws and film rupture mechanisms for shear-driven locally heated liquid film flows remain only partially understood. The paper focuses upon shear-driven liquid film evaporative cooling of high-speed computer chips. The recent progress that has been achieved through conducting theoretical and numerical modeling as well as new experimental data has been discussed.