Dynamic Thermal Management of Power Transistors using Holey Silicon-Based Thermoelectric Cooling

Recent developments in mobile networks and consumer electronics such as IoT (Internet of Things) devices have posed increasing demand for high power semiconductor devices. The current performance of power semiconductor devices is limited by the heat generated within the devices, and this requires advanced cooling systems to manage the local "hotspot". Well-studied cooling solutions for power devices include air cooling and liquid cooling which strongly rely on heat removal through external heat sinks. However, those cooling solutions are designed to cool down the devices uniformly on the surface and in steady state, which ignore the local hotspot and transient heating event in power transistors, resulting in unnecessary overcooling in space and time. Thermoelectric cooling, on the other hand, can be a promising solution to address the transient hotspot issue due to its high cooling performance, solid-state operation, and selective cooling. However, typical thermoelectric materials such as Bi2Te3 are based on complex materials which are incompatible with microelectronic processes. Here, we present a thermoelectric cooling system based on holey silicon to provide an efficient hotspot cooling solution under transient heating conditions for power transistors. Holey silicon as an ideal thermoelectric material provides both compatibility and high cooling performance. This system is integrated on the side of a power transistor to provide active cooling for local hotspots under dynamic hotspot conditions. Our numerical simulation demonstrates significant transient cooling on hotspots by reducing the maximum temperature from 228.3 °C to 182.8 °C, with a temperature reduction of 45.5 °C. By utilizing transient thermoelectric cooling, the holey silicon-based thermoelectric cooling system can be a key for power semiconductor development by providing a promising cooling solution for hotspot management.