1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of semiconductor, and more specifically, to heat extraction.
2. Description of Related Art
Heat extraction from, or cooling, microelectronic devices or processors is challenging due to their high average power dissipation and localized high heat flux areas, or hot spots. As operating frequency increases for high performance processors, heat extraction is becoming a fundamental design problem.
Existing techniques to solve the above problem are inadequate. Traditional techniques include the use of a heat sink to dissipate heat generated from the device or processor. Typically, the heat sink is attached to the silicon die via a heat spreader. This method has a number of disadvantages. First, the heat extraction is not efficient because of inefficient thermal interface between the heat sink and the silicon die. Second, there is no flexibility in localized control of cooling because the heat sink is attached to the entire silicon die. Third, the manufacturing process is inefficient because the heat sink is placed onto the silicon die after the die has been created.