Heat Transfer Engineering

ISSN: 0145-7632 (Print) 1521-0537 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/uhte20

Evolution of Microchannel Flow Passages-Thermohydraulic Performance and Fabrication

Technology
Satish G. Kandlikar & William J. Grande
To cite this article: Satish G. Kandlikar & William J. Grande (2003) Evolution of Microchannel
Flow Passages--Thermohydraulic Performance and Fabrication Technology, Heat Transfer
Engineering, 24:1, 3-17, DOI: 10.1080/01457630304040
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01457630304040

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Heat Transfer Engineering, 24(1):317, 2003

C 2003 Taylor & Francis
Copyright
01457632/03 $12.00 + .00
DOI: 10.1080/01457630390116077

Evolution of Microchannel
Flow Passages
Thermohydraulic
Performance and
Fabrication Technology
SATISH G. KANDLIKAR
Mechanical Engineering Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA

WILLIAM J. GRANDE
Microelectronic Engineering Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA

This paper provides a roadmap of development in the thermal and fabrication aspects of
microchannels as applied in microelectronics and other high heat-flux cooling applications.
Microchannels are defined as flow passages that have hydraulic diameters in the range of 10 to
200 micrometers. The impetus for microchannel research was provided by the pioneering work of
Tuckerman and Pease [1] at Stanford University in the early eighties. Since that time, this
technology has received considerable attention in microelectronics and other major application
areas, such as fuel cell systems and advanced heat sink designs.
After reviewing the advancement in heat transfer technology from a historical perspective, the
advantages of using microchannels in high heat flux cooling applications is discussed, and research
done on various aspects of microchannel heat exchanger performance is reviewed. Single-phase
performance for liquids is still expected to be describable by conventional equations; however, the
gas flow may be influenced by rarefaction effects. Two-phase flow is another topic that is still under
active research.
The evolution of research in microchannel flow passages has paralleled the advancements made
in fabrication technology. The earliest microchannels were built in silicon wafers by anisotropic wet
chemical etching and sawing. While these methods have been exploited successfully, they impose a
number of significant restrictions on channel geometry. A variety of advanced micromachining
techniques have been developed since this early work. The current state of fabrication technology is
reviewed, taxonomically organized, and found to offer many new possibilities for building
microchannels. In particular anisotropic dry etching and other high aspect ratio techniques have
removed many of the process-induced constraints on microchannel design. Other technologies such
as surface micromachining, microstamping, hybridization, and system-on-chip integration will
enable increasingly complex, highly functional heat transfer devices for the foreseeable future. It is
also found that the formation of flow passages with hydraulic diameters below the microchannel
regime will be readily possible with current fabrication techniques.

Address correspondence to Satish G. Kandlikar, Mechanical Engineering Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14618,
USA. E-mail: sgkeme@rit.edu

two-phase applications received the same aggressive

treatment throughout the heat transfer industry.

INTRODUCTION
Historical Advancements in Heat
Transfer Technologies

Heat and Mass Transfer in Biological Systems

Heat, or thermal energy, represents the ultimate manifestation of all forms of energy. Transfer of heat from
one location to other, from one medium to another,
and meeting the challenges of accomplishing this transfer under a variety of constraints have been the objectives of heat transfer research ever since fire was
domesticated.
Heat transfer by convection provides a means of
transferring heat quickly away from heat exchange surfaces. Fluids employed in engineering systems and processes undergo the changes in their thermal state in heat
exchangers. The basic equation of heat transfer by convection is expressed as follows:
q = h A(Ts T f )

(1)

The early developments in the 19th and early 20th

centuries focused on increasing the surface area to accommodate higher heat transfer rates. Shell and tube
heat exchangers dominated the scene with their ability
to scale up in size to individual units rivaling (in some
cases) the sizes of modest single-family homes.
The era of compact heat exchangers began its earnest
drive through demands from the transportation sector
automotive, aircraft, submarine, and spacecraft. Equation (1) was revisited, this time the emphasis being on
improving h and A simultaneously, but with added constraints of the overall volume and weight. Plate-fin exchangers utilizing small size passages, on the order of
a few mm, were developed for gas applications. The
application of novel fins, including microfins, became
prevalent in single-phase and two-phase applications,
and the use of twisted tapes and other enhancement devices were developed in an effort to provide a major
facelift to older generation technology utilizing large
hydraulic diameters, on the order of several inches. (The
use of English units is intentional to reflect the true state
of art; although it will go undoubtedly unnoticed by
many US industries who are still refusing to translate
themselves, perhaps for some valid reasons, into the SI
units!)
The process industry, with somewhat liberal views
on the space constraint, embraced the flexibility of the
plate heat exchangers. The cryogenic industry, with its
eye on the heat exchanger effectiveness, was ahead of
the pack through the use of compact regenerators using submillimeter-sized flow passages. The refrigeration industry, realizing the benefits of economics alone,
embraced the microfin tubes in residential and commercial evaporators and condensers. Single-phase and
4

heat transfer engineering

Nature provides us with some important clues regarding the heat and mass transfer processes. For example, the African elephants have larger ears than those
in Asiathe higher temperature in the desert environment in Africa requires a larger surface area for the
ears, which are the main heat dissipation devices for
elephants. Looking at the biological systems, such as
a human body, Chen and Helmes [2] found that the
blood vessels that are largely responsible for thermal exchange (known as thermally significant blood vessels)
have sizes on the order of hundreds of micrometers, with
175 m diameter being typical. The mass transfer processes, on the other hand, take place in much smaller
sized vessels, such as alveoliwhich are on the order
of a few micrometersand form the air sacs at extremities of the air passageways in the lungs. The arterioles
and venules, which are the smallest vessels for blood
transportation, are only 10 to 15 m in diameter. The
capillaries, where most of the mass transfer processes
occur, are only 4 m in diameter. The mass transfer effectiveness of these three unitsarterioles, venules, and
capillariesare over three orders of magnitude higher
than the larger vessels (Lightfoot and Duca [3]).
Channel Classification
The thermal scientists in the last two decades took
another look at Eq. (1) in their attempt to address the
challenges posed by the high heat flux devices. High
heat fluxes coupled with the small device sizes led to
smaller channel dimensions. The word micro was embraced enthusiastically with the opening of its newest
branch in microscale heat transfer. The classification of
small channel dimensions, as proposed by Mehendale
et al. [4], divides the range from 1 m to 100 m as microchannels, 100 m to 1 mm as meso-channels, 1 mm
to 6 mm as compact passages, and >6 mm as conventional passages. This classification is based simply on
the dimensions of the channels. The classification provided by Kandlikar [5, 6], further refined below, is based
on the flow considerations.
Conventional channels are identified as those with
a hydraulic diameter of 3 mm or larger. The channel
sizes below 3 mm are formed as narrow fin passages,
as in plate-fin heat exchangers. The regenerative heat
exchanger matrix and plate heat exchangers belong to
this category. The lower limit for manufacturing smaller
channels is really imposed by the major changes in
vol. 24 no. 1 2003

fabrication technology, warranted below about 200 m.

The range for compact heat exchanger passages is expected to decrease in the future, with a hydraulic diameter range of 200 m to 3 mm to be classified as
Minichannels.
As will be seen in later sections, no fundamental change occurs in the single phase liquid and gas
flows (incompressible and in the absence of rarefaction effects) or two-phase flows in channels up to
200 m. Below 200 m, the manufacturing techniques
and operational considerations for cleanliness become
extremely important. The next range under this classification, termed microchannel, is influenced by the rarefaction effects for gases, as described by the Knudsen
number, Kn:
Kn = /Dh

(2)

where is the mean free path for the gas calculated from
the following equation:

(3)
=
2RT
where Rgas constant, J/kgK; dynamic viscosity,
N/ms; density, kg/m3 ; and T is absolute temperature
in K.
Table 1 gives the values of mean free paths for different gases at 300 K. As an example, the mean free path
for air at 300 K is 0.068 m. The microchannel range,
covering 10 m to 200 m, is generally affected by
the rarefaction effects for many gases. The continuum
approach with no wall slip is modified in these channels; this approach being valid for 0.1 > Kn > 0.001, the
region identified as the slip region.
Below 10 m, depending on the gas and the pressure,
the transitional region is encountered, where rarefaction
effects are more severe and approach the molecular flow.
The range 10 > Kn 0.1 m is referred to as the transitional region. Tentatively, we may assign the channel
to a
dimensions from 10 m Dh > 0.1 m (1000 A)
newly defined region as Transitional Nanochannels.
On the basis of the above discussion, the following
classification is presented.

Conventional Channels:
Minichannels:
Microchannels:
Transitional Channels:
Transitional Microchannels:
Transitional Nanochannels:
Molecular Nanochannels:

Dh > 3 mm
3 mm Dh > 200 m
200 m Dh > 10 m
10 m Dh > 0.1 m
10 m Dh > 1 m
1 m Dh > 0.1 m
0.1 m Dh

Although the above criteria are developed mainly

from gas flow considerations, they are recommended
for both liquid as well as two-phase flow applications
to provide a uniformity in channel classification. As
will be seen later, thermal and flow characteristics of
minichannels, as classified above, in the flow boiling
region seem to be only slightly affected as compared to
the conventional channels.
Applications of Microchannels in Heat
Transfer Devices
Owing to their higher thermal performance, minichannels are being increasingly employed in process
applications; the higher pumping power requirements
are offset with the overall size and cost reductions. In
the automotive and aero industry, minichannels proved
to be valuable in addressing the severe space constraints.
Compact heat exchangers employ minichannels in these
and many other applications.
The microelectronics engineers, conversant with the
submicron scale in their IC designs, and the mechanical engineers, familiar with the minichannels in compact heat exchangers, found the microchannel range as
a desirable compromise in microelectronic cooling applications. In biomedical and optical applications, transitional nanochannels are often employed. The race
is far from over, with mechanical engineers moving
from the comfortable confines of heat sinks mounted
on electronics devices, components, and assemblies to
the uncharted territories of microchannels, partnering
with the microelecectronics engineers for their on-chip
flight to meet the new micron and submicron sized thermal and fabrication challenges. Understanding these
systems will enable us to proceed to the next level of
nanochannels in biological applications.
A Note on the Historical Perspective

Table 1
pressure

Mean free path calculations for gases at atmospheric

Gas

T, K

R, J/kg K

, kg/m3

, kg/m s

, m

Air
Helium
Hydrogen
Nitrogen

300
300
300
300

287.0
2077.03
4124.18
296.8

1.1614
0.1625
0.08078
1.1233

1.846 105
1.99 105
8.96 106
1.782 105

0.068
0.194
0.125
0.066

heat transfer engineering

This article intends to provide a historical perspective to the developments in microchannels from different viewpoints. The task is very much complicated by
the fact that the microchannels represent a relatively
new technology in the heat transfer application, tracing
its roots with the pioneering work of Tuckerman and
Pease [1] just over twenty years ago. Active research on
vol. 24 no. 1 2003

establishing its thermal hydraulic performance in single

and two-phase applications has started in earnest only
within the last five years. The major landmarks are currently being made, and it is difficult to identify them
as they are being presented in various technical conferences and journals. It is therefore hoped that this paper
will provide a good reflection of the first twenty years
of development in this field to facilitate an accurate historical account a decade later, when the field will have
matured to some extent.

Basic Heat Transfer and Pressure

Drop Relationships
The effect of hydraulic diameter on heat transfer and
pressure drop is illustrated in Figures 1a and 1b for water
and air flowing in a square channel under a constant
heat flux and fully developed laminar flow conditions.
The heat transfer coefficient is unaffected by the flow
Reynolds number in the fully developed laminar region.
It is given by
k
D

2 f G2
pf
=
(5)
L
D
where p f /L is the frictional pressure gradient, f is
the Fanning friction factor, G is the mass flux, is the
density, and D is the hydraulic diameter. For fully developed laminar flow, we can write
f Re = C

THERMOHYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE
OF MICROCHANNELS

h = Nu

However, f varies inversely with Re, since the product f Re remains constant during fully developed laminar flow. The frictional pressure drop per unit length for
the flow of an incompressible fluid is given by

(4)

The Nusselt number for fully developed laminar flow

in a square channel under constant heat flux conditions
is 3.61. Figure 1a shows the variation of h with channel hydraulic diameter under fully developed laminar
flow conditions. The dramatic enhancement in h with a
reduction in channel size is clearly demonstrated.

(6)

where Re is the Reynolds number, Re = G D/, and C is

a constant, 14.23, for a square channel. Figure 1b shows
the variation of pressure gradient with channel size for
a square channel of G = 200 kg/m2 s, with air and water
assuming incompressible flow conditions. These plots
are for illustrative purposes only, as the above assumptions may not be valid for the flow of air, especially in
smaller channel sizes. It is seen from Figure 1b that the
pressure gradient increases dramatically with a reduction in the channel size.
Single Phase Liquid Flow in Microchannels
Single phase flow is expected to be unaffected for
liquids, as the hydraulic diameter is reduced in range
from 200 to 10 m. These channel dimensions are still
a few orders of magnitude higher than the molecular
mean free flow path. The studies by Richter et al. [7]
and Pfahler et al. [8] support these observations.
Richter et al. [7] etched channels by KOH solution
producing 54.7 side angles for the triangular channels.

Figure 1a Variation of heat transfer coefficient with channel size for a square channel under a laminar flow, constant heat flux boundary
condition, assuming no rarefaction and compressibility effects.

heat transfer engineering

vol. 24 no. 1 2003

Figure 1b Variation of pressure gradient for fully developed laminar flow in smooth circular tubes at 300 K for water at G = 200 kg/m2 s
(V = 0.20 m/s) and air at 5 kg/m2 s (V = 4.25 m/s), assuming no rarefaction and compressibility effects.

The top width was between 28 and 182.7 m, and the

length of the flow channel was set at 2 mm. The flow rate
was between 0.01 to 1000 l/min. The flow was laminar,
with Re less than 1. Richter et al. compared their experimental results with the predictions using the standard
triangular channel friction factors. The agreement was
very good over the entire range. They also noted that the
flow rate was quite sensitive to temperature, as the viscosity of water changed considerably with temperatures
over the experimental range of 20 to 50 C.
Pfahler et al. [8] conducted experiments with Npropanol in two different sized rectangular microchannels. The larger ones were made of silicon with (110)
orientation, 53 m deep by 135 m wide, while the
smaller channels were made of silicon with (100) orientation, only 1.7 and 0.8 m deep, and 100 m wide.
Their results indicate that for all the test sections, with
the exception of the smallest depth of 0.8 m, the conventional theory predicted the friction factor quite well.
For the test section with 0.8 m depth, a threefold increase in the friction factor was noted. The results indicated a large contribution due to developing length.
For such small channels, accurate height measurement
was difficult. From this study, it can be concluded that
the conventional theory is applicable to liquid flow in
channels as small as 1.7 m in depth.
Phillips et al. [9] conducted extensive studies on
the application of liquid-cooled microchannels for chip
cooling applications. The study included numerical as
well as experimental work, including the incorporation
of longitudinal fins.
An experimental study conducted by Kandlikar et al.
[10] with water flowing in 200 m-square channels
yielded excellent agreement with the conventional theory for friction factor. In the case of diabatic flow, the
property correction method for friction factor was seen
to work quite well. Although the heat transfer results are
expected to yield similar agreement with the conventional channels, considerable discrepancy was noted,
perhaps due to heating from only three sides of the
heat transfer engineering

channel. Further confirmation in this regard may be

warranted.

Single Phase Gas Flow in Microchannels

The effect of rarefaction is expressed by the Knudsen
number defined in Eq. (2). At high values of Kn, the
continuum assumption of no slip at the wall no longer
holds. Harley [11] provides the classification described
in Table 2 on the basis of the Knudsen number. The
range of channel dimensions for different types of flow
conditions is presented in Table 3 for three gases. It is
seen that for all gases listed here, the flow will enter
into the slip flow condition for microchannels, which
are defined as channels in the hydraulic diameter range
with a 10 to 200 m.
For Kn < 0.1, rarefaction effects become important. In the slip flow region, 0.1 > Kn > 0.001, which
is generally of interest in the microchannel and fluidics
MEMS devices, the continuum theory can be modified
by applying a slip ratio at the wall. Ebert and Sparrow
[12] presented a wall slip model using the first order
derivative of the velocity profile at the wall. Harley [11]
and Harley et al. [13] presented a comprehensive model
Table 2

Knudsen number ranges for various types of flow

Range of
Knudsen numbers Type of flow
0.001 > Kn
0.1 > Kn > 0.001
10 > Kn > 0.1

Kn > 10

Continuum flow: no rarefaction effects

Slip flow: rarefaction effects that can be
modeled with a modified continuum theory
accounting for wall slip
Transition flow: a type of flow between slip
flow and free molecular flow that is
analyzed statistically, i.e., with Boltzman
equation
Free molecular flow: motion of individual
molecules must be modeled and
then treated statistically

vol. 24 no. 1 2003

Table 3 Channel dimensions in m for different types of flow for gases at

one atmospheric pressure
Channel dimensions in m

Gas

Continuum
flow

Slip flow

Air
Helium
Hydrogen

>67 m
>194 m
>123 m

0.6767 m
1.94194 m
1.23123 m

Transition
flow
0.00670.67 m
0.01941.94 m
0.01231.23 m

Free
molecular
flow
<0.0067 m
<0.0194 m
<0.0123 m

of the fundamental issues related to flow patterns in

microchannels and minichannels was conducted by
Kandlikar [5, 6]. Readers are referred to those articles for further details. Briefly, the following important
points can be summarized.

accounting for the wall effect during flow through parallel channels and rectangular microchannels.
In their formulation, Ebert and Sparrow [12] modeled
the wall slip condition using the first derivative of the
velocity profile at the wall. Aubert and Colin [14] point
out that the Taylor series form of the velocity profile
proposed by Ebert and Sparrow does not converge with
the second order boundary condition and instead used a
second order boundary condition at the wall. Although
their results provided a better fit with the experimental
data, they yield accommodation factors of greater than
1, suggesting that these be treated as empirical constants
at this time.
The wall effects also influence the heat transfer characteristics in microchannels. In the case of fluid flow, the
friction coefficient was reduced, yielding a higher mass
flow rate of gases as compared to the predictions from
conventional correlations. In the case of heat transfer,
a decrease in the heat transfer coefficient is expected
as channel dimensions become smaller or the Knudsen
number increases beyond 0.001.
The approach proposed by Li et al. [15] represents
an alternative model for analyzing the wall effect. The
temperature and velocity jumps at the wall proposed in
the slip flow models are replaced with a continuous variation of viscosity and thermal conductivity in the layer
close to the wall within a several mean free path distance.
Further evaluation of this model is needed before it can
be applied to other systems. This approach, however,
seems to be promising as the wall effects are modeled
through a continuously variable property rather than a
jump condition, which is not clearly understood.
Hadjiconstantinou and Simek [16] analyzed the fully
developed flow in the slip flow and transition regions for
the case of constant wall temperature. They included
the axial heat conduction term in the slip flow model.
Their results indicate that axial conduction increases the
Nusselt number by 10 percent.

A recent study reported by Kandlikar et al. [18] shows

that the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient with liquid
flow Reynolds numbers considerably smaller than the
transition value of 2300 are predicted well by using the
conventional flow boiling correlation, such as by Kandlikar [17], with the fully developed laminar flow value
for the all-liquid heat transfer coefficient, instead of a
turbulent flow correlation. Further work is continuing
in this area.
In the authors laboratory, we have recently obtained
high speed images of the flow patterns in 200 m
square microchannels. The presence of the churn flow,
as shown in Figure 2a, has been seen perhaps for the first
time in such small diameter channels. Flow reversal behavior for these channels was also observed. Figure 2b
shows a sequence with a bubble expanding into a slug
that pushes the liquid flow back into the inlet manifold.

Flow Boiling in Microchannels

Condensation in Microchannels

Surface tension plays an important role as channel dimensions become smaller. An exhaustive review

Condensation heat transfer is significantly enhanced

in microchannels. Although condensation heat transfer

heat transfer engineering

The flow patterns observed in the microchannels are

strongly dependent on time, with a sequence of different flow patterns passing through the channel as a
result of flow instabilities. The results are more pronounced in multichannels.
Occasional flow reversals are commonly experienced
in a channel. The visual studies have confirmed that
the fluctuations result from the rapid expansion of a
bubble into a slug, which pushes the liquid away both
upstream as well as downstream of the flow.
The heat transfer coefficient during flow boiling in microchannels can be predicted with the existing correlations, such as the Kandlikar [17] correlation, for
large diameter tubes.

vol. 24 no. 1 2003

Figure 2a

Churn flow sequence observed during flow boiling of water in a 200 m square microchannel.

is studied extensively in minichannels, it has received

little attention in microchannels because of difficulties
associated with experimentation and testing. The space
constraints during condensation are not as severe as in
boiling applied to high heat flux removal situations. For
this reason, the topic of condensation is not reviewed in
this paper.
FABRICATION TECHNIQUES FOR
MICROCHANNELS
Heat transfer flow paths having a characteristic dimension in the range of 10200 m were
classified above as microchannels. The evolution of
microchannel-based heat exchangers has largely been
paced by advances in microfabrication technology. In
this section, we give an overview of existing microfabrication techniques with an emphasis on those particularly suited for building microchannel devices. It should
be noted that various subsets of these technologies can
be usefully applied to the fabrication of channels of both
greater and lesser dimensions, covering the range from
minichannels to molecular nanochannels.
Microfabrication Taxonomy

Figure 2b Expanding bubbles into slugs that create a reversed

flow (from left to right), 200 m square microchannels with flow
boiling of water near atmospheric pressure.

heat transfer engineering

A group of microchannel fabrication technologies is

depicted taxonomically in Figure 3. This collection of
microfabrication techniques covers a broad range of machining principles and dimensional scales. The groupings are meant to highlight contrasts and similarities and are not absolute. For reasons of space and
vol. 24 no. 1 2003

Figure 3 Taxonomic chart of microfabrication technologies.

clarity, many minor technologies have been omitted.

Some techniques, such as lithography, laser exposure, electroplating, and molding, have been widely
adopted and are encountered in multiple fabrication
methodologies.
The first major division identified in the taxonomic
hierarchy is between miniaturized traditional and modern technologies. Miniaturized traditional techniques
are rooted in conventional machine shop and manufacturing practices but adapted to achieve microscale features. The modern technologies are more difficult to
characterize but are generally based on advances that
occurred in the latter half of the twentieth century, such
as lasers and micron-level photolithography. Semiconductor and allied fabrication methods account for the
bulk of the modern technologies.
In some respects, miniaturized traditional techniques
are the most straightforward approach to creating microfeatures. These miniature techniques often use conventional machine tools especially adapted to operate in
the micro regime. The adaptations range from shrinking the machine tool itself, such as miniature milling
machines [19], to the introduction of lithographic patterning. Sawing has been taken into the micro realm,
especially in the form of wafer dicing. Saw cuts on the
order of 25 m width with a placement accuracy of
4 m at 3 sigma can be obtained with commercially
available equipment [20]. Micro-electro discharge machining [2123] has been demonstrated using very fine
wires as electrodes. Other cutting techniques, such as
ultrasonic and waterjet machining, are especially effec-

10

heat transfer engineering

tive on hard brittle materials and are being practiced at

ever finer scales.
Included as miniaturized traditional techniques are a
number of manufacturing methodologies. Commercial
electroforming, molding, and stereolithographic fabrication have been brought into the micro regime through
the incorporation of lithographic and laser-based patterning. The printed circuit board industry, for example,
is routinely producing micro via holes at the 25 m
scale.
The modern technologies can be distinguished as
either serial or batch and have been reviewed by a
number of excellent sources [2431]. Because serial
techniques machine objects in a point by point fashion, they tend to have low material removal rates and
low throughput. However, these techniques are often
used for specialized high-value, low-repetition operations like micro-feature repair and via formation. Laser
machining has become an increasingly powerful tool
that can handle a wide variety of difficult materials. Focused ion beam machining offers many similar benefits
and can operate in the submicron regime.
Semiconductor-Like Fabrication Techniques
Much of the current research and excitement in the
fields of microsystems technology (MST) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is centered among
a group of batch microfabrication methods that arose
from the semiconductor sector. Silicon-based variants are the most prevalent because of the enormous

vol. 24 no. 1 2003

installed infrastructure that supports the microelectronics industry.

Silicon-based micromachining techniques can be
broadly divided into two groups. In bulk micromachining, the final part is made by selectively removing portions of the starting substrate. Because the final part
is made from the original single-crystal silicon, it has
tremendous strength and is virtually stress-free. In contrast, surface micromachining creates the final part on
or above the starting substrate through a series of deposition, patterning, and etching steps. In many cases,
the substrate is completely irrelevant to the fabrication
process, and silicon becomes the substrate of choice for
reasons of cost and process compatibility.
The major issue in bulk micromachining is the etch
process. Bulk etching can be carried out in either a wet
chemical or dry plasma format, and both techniques
have isotropic and anisotropic variants.
Anisotropic wet chemical etching (WCE) of silicon
has been the workhorse technique since the original
work of Tuckerman and Pease [1]. A number of etchants,
including potassium hydroxide and ethylene diamine
pyrocatechol, will etch the {111} planes of silicon at
such a slow rate compared to other crystal directions that
the {111} planes can be thought of as etch stops [32, 33].
In silicon with a (100) surface, the {111} planes can be
used to create V-grooves with a 54.74 angle to the surface. In (110)-oriented silicon, the {111} family has two
pairs of planes that are perpendicular to the wafer surface and intersect each other at 70.53 . (The other two
pairs shallowly intersect the surface at 35.26 and help
determine the shape of the bottom of the etch trench.)
The dependence on crystal orientation means that WCE
can produce only a few specific microchannel device designs. Care must be taken when aligning the etch mask
to the crystal planes in order to avoid unwanted artifacts [34]. Anisotropic WCE etch rates are typically in
the range of 1 m/min; as such, etch times of many
hours are common. Wafers can, however, be etched in
batches to improve throughput. Another constraint of
anisotropic WCE is that features formed by the intersection of {111} planes are stable only when the angle
of the corner is less than 180 . This means that properly bounded isolated trenches can be etched to arbitrary
depths, whereas isolated mesas will undergo attack at
the corners and may require compensation techniques
to achieve the desired shape [35].
Wet chemical etching can also be carried out in an
isotropic manner, most commonly using the HNA
system of hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, and acetic acid.
Isotropic WCE can exhibit high etch ratesgreater
than 100 m/minand result in hemispherical etch
profiles.
heat transfer engineering

A recent advance in etch technology has been the

emergence of dry etch techniques [3639]. Of particular interest are the deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) processes that can produce vertical etch profiles in silicon. The most commercially prominent technique is
the so-called Bosch etch [40], which uses alternating etch and polymer passivation chemistries [41]. The
reaction chamber is typically fitted with an inductively
coupled energy source to create plasmas that are one
to two orders of magnitude denser that those obtained
by conventional parallel-plate reactive ion etching. The
substrate is either mechanically or electrostatically held
to a cooled platen with a separate bias to control incident ion energy. Typical etch rates are in the range 2
8 m/min; however, etch rates greater than 20 m/min
have been reported in a specially designed tool [42].
An attractive feature of DRIE is that the etch process
is readily masked with a variety of dielectric and polymer films, such as silicon dioxide and photoresist. Etch
rate ratios between silicon and the masking materials
can be in the range 50150. Thus, deep trenches and
through-wafer features can be readily obtained. Figure 4
shows a set of microchannels with 42 m trenches
that were etched to greater than 100 m. The strong
interplay among process responses such as etch rate,
sidewall angle, and sidewall roughness has been characterized by Ayon and coworkers [43]. Dry isotropic
etching can be obtained without a plasma by exposing silicon to the gas xenon difluoride with which
it reacts spontaneously at room temperature [44, 45].
Bulk micromachining etch processes are summarized in
Figure 5.
Etch techniques can be combined in unique ways
to create complex microchannel structures. Figure 6
schematically illustrates a process [46] that can create
microchannels buried within the interior of a wafer. It is
also possible to build sets of microchannels at different
depths and have them cross over each other. The technique uses an initial anisotropic etch to create a deep
narrow trench in a silicon substrate. A mask layer is
coated on the sides of the trench but not the bottom,
and a subsequent isotropic etch step forms the channel.
The initial trench can then be plugged by conformal
deposition of a thin film.
Bulk micromachining and surface micromachining
are complementary techniques that can be combined
to build multifunctional systems. Zohar and coworkers
[47, 48] have built microchannel devices with integrated
heaters and temperature sensor arrays. It is anticipated
that true systems-on-chip that combine microcooling
with sensing, computation, active fluidic components,
on-board power sources, and communication to the outside world will evolve in the future.
vol. 24 no. 1 2003

11

Figure 4

Microchannel array formed by silicon DRIE.

High Aspect Ratio Lithography and Molding

A class of very high aspect ratio fabrication processes
based on the lost wax molding technique has come
to be known by the term LIGA, a German acronym
for lithographie, galvanoformung, abformung (meaning lithography, electroplating, and molding). As shown
in Figure 7, LIGA uses highly collimated X-rays projected through a special X-ray mask to provide near
diffraction-free exposure of a thick photoresist. The developed features in the photoresist can then be filled with
a variety of materials and planarized. The technique can
create structures with aspect ratios in excess of 100:1
and can hold submicron tolerances over many hundreds

Figure 5

12

Bulk micromachining etch profiles.

heat transfer engineering

of microns of vertical height [49]. Final parts can be obtained in three distinct ways. First, the patterned resist
can be separated from the substrate and used as a precision machined polymer. Second, the molded deposit,
which is typically an electroformed metal such as nickel
or copper, can be separated from the substrate. Lastly,
the substrate and deposited metal can be used in combination as a high precision molding master. High aspect
ratio electrodeposited features were first obtained using
X-ray exposure by Romankiw and coworkers in the mid1970s [50]. In 1982, Ehrfeld and coworkers recognized
the potential of the process to build molding masters
that could be used to inexpensively create ultraprecise
high aspect ratio parts [51].

Figure 6 Construction of buried microchannels by combined

anisotropic and isotropic etching.

vol. 24 no. 1 2003

The existence of fabrication techniques such as DRIE

and LIGA has enabled the creation of high aspect ratio masters from silicon or metal that can be used to
micromold and microstamp a wide variety of parts and
features [6164].
Wafer Bonding Techniques

Figure 7 The LIGA process.

Optimal exposure wavelengths for LIGA are in the

range of 0.20.5 nm and are obtained as bremstrallung
radiation from a synchrotron source. A wide variety of
structures and devices have been demonstrated using
LIGA, including fluid channels and fluidic components
[52], geared micromotors [53], and high precision connectors [54]. The technique has been extended to multiple feature levels and applied to nonplanar work pieces
[55]. However, LIGA has failed to become widely accepted because of the difficulty in making suitable X-ray
masks and the cost and limited availability of the exposure equipment.
There is great interest in alternative techniques
that can provide high aspect patterning using conventional ultraviolet sources. These so-called ultravioletLIGA (or UV-LIGA) processes have become increasingly viable with the development of multiple coating
techniques [56], thick layer coating equipment [57],
and chemically amplified resists. At present, the most
widely used UV-LIGA material is a negative-working,
epoxy resin-based resist known as SU-8. Developed
originally by IBM [58] and offered commercially by
MicroChem [59] and SOTEC [60], SU-8 can be applied
in thicknesses up to 2 mm and exposed with standard
photolithographic tools. Aspect ratios greater than 20
have been reported.
heat transfer engineering

None of the technologies described above can individually produce a complete microsystem. Hybridization is the process of combining all the necessary
disparate substrates, structures, components, and subassemblies into a final product. An extremely versatile
variant of hybridization is wafer bonding, where two
flat substrates of nearly arbitrary composition can be
permanently attached. Direct wafer bonding is a collection of processes of which the exact details vary with
material but the technique can generally be tailored to
obtain a wide range of adhesive bond strengths. Plol
and Krauter have extensively reviewed wafer bonding
and its application to microsystems construction [65].
Three bonding techniques of particular interest are
fusion bonding, anodic bonding, and adhesive bonding.
In fusion bonding, two wafers of which the surfaces
are silicon or silicon compounds, such as oxide and nitride, can be covalently bonded through a combination
of chemical surface treatments, pressure, and annealing at elevated temperature. When properly performed,
the bond strength is at least as great as the bulk wafer
strength. Wafer stacks of greater than two wafers can be
bonded in either a serial or parallel fashion. Prior to fusion bonding, the wafers can be extensively machined.
A variety of fusion bonded microsystems with complex internal cavities and moving parts have been realized, including accelerometers [66], microfluidic valves
[67], and micro turbine engines [68]. In anodic bonding, silicon and ionic glass surfaces are joined through a
combination of pressure, temperature, and electric field.
While both fusion and anodic bonding can produce interfaces with great strength, they are quite material specific. For generic hetero-bonding, adhesive techniques
are the most general. Figure 8 shows how microchannel
devices can be formed by wafer bonding.

FABRICATION TECHNIQUES FOR

TRANSITIONAL CHANNELS AND MOLECULAR
NANOCHANNELS
Heat transfer flow paths in transitional channels and
molecular nanochannels have characteristic dimensions
in the 100.1 m and below 0.1 m ranges, respectively.
vol. 24 no. 1 2003

13

Figure 8 The wafer bonding process.

At these dimensions, many of the fabrication technologies described in the preceding section can still be
practiced with little modification, while others must be
modified or even abandoned at very small dimensions.
However, the exploding interest in nanotechnology is
beginning to offer unique fabrication tools for the
nanometer regime.
The dimensional range from 101 m represents
a transition between MEMS fabrication and standard
semiconductor fabrication. In general, both additive
(i.e., deposition) and subtractive (i.e., etching) fabrication technologies become mainstream and widely available at dimensions of a few microns down to approximately 0.1 m. Thus, products based on transitional
channels can readily leverage the global microelectronics manufacturing infrastructure. At ultrasmall dimensions, the salient question becomes: what is technologically possible and what is commercially viable?
Leading edge lithography today is practiced down to
0.13 m and is projected to reach 0.022 m by 2015
[69]. The ultimate feat of patterning was Eigler and
Schweizers spelling out of IBM in xenon atoms using
a scanning tunneling microscope [70]. For deposition
and etching techniques at ultrasmall dimensions, the
main issue is control and accuracy. Advanced processes
such as atomic layer epitaxy and digital etching represent the ultimate in dimensional control and are able to
add or remove monatomic layers. Thus, the practical as
well as physical limit to building molecular nanochannels is the atomic structure of the channel materials
themselves.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
Reducing channel dimensions yields larger surface
area per unit flow volume and a larger heat transfer co14

heat transfer engineering

efficient. With these features, significantly higher rates

of heat transfer, on the order of several hundreds of
Watts/cm2 , are possible. Over the last century, the flow
passage dimensions have been consistently moving toward smaller hydraulic diameters to meet the demands
of evolving technologies. To provide a new reference,
a new channel classification is presented in this paper
on the basis of molecular mean free path considerations
for single phase flow and surface tension effects in twophase flow. Two new classification types are introduced:
(1) transitional microchannels and nanochannels, and
(2) molecular nanochannels.
The single phase performance in microchannels is
seen to be similar to the conventional channels for
Knudsen numbers below 0.001. However, the wall
roughness effects need to be carefully considered, as
the relative roughness may become very large when the
channel dimensions become comparable to the roughness features.
An understanding of the liquid and vapor phase interactions during two-phase flow in microchannels is
emerging as a topic of intense current research interest.
Preliminary studies indicate that the surface tension effects modify the flow structure somewhat, such as flow
pattern fluctuations and the absence of stratified flow
indicating minimal effect due to gravity. However, the
basic features of two-phase flow seem to be still preserved, with surface tension becoming a dominant force
in the flow field. A need for accurate experimental flow
boiling data is seen, as currently there are no reliable
data sets available in the literature.
From a historical perspective, microchannels are currently at an infancy stage. We are still trying to understand their characteristics. Their widespread usage is
expected to begin with advances in MEMS devices and
systems, microscale sensors and actuators, advanced
high heat flux removal systems, and biomedical applications. As an example, the use of microchannels and
nanochannels is critical in developing highly efficient
heat and mass transfer devices, such as artificial kidneys or lungs suitable for human implant. These developments are expected to make headlines in the coming
decades.
From a fabrication perspective, we have considered channels with characteristic dimensions that range
over more than five orders of magnitude, from several millimeters to below 0.1 m. Standard machining
techniques can readily produce channels at the larger
dimensions and down to a few hundred microns. Semiconductor manufacturing technology can accommodate
channels at dimensions of a few microns to below
0.1 m. Microchannels occupy the region between a few
microns and a few hundred microns. This dimensional
vol. 24 no. 1 2003

range has become a focus of interest for thermal transfer research over the last two decades since the work of
Tuckerman and Pease. Over the same time period, the
microfabrication community has also focused on this
dimensional range. Today, a wide variety of specialized
processes and fabrication toolssome derived from traditional machining, some derived from the semiconductor industry, and some clever adaptations of other
technologiesare optimized for the construction of microchannels. Thus, from a fabrication standpoint, there
are virtually no dimensional limits on building channels
for thermal transfer applications.
NOMENCLATURE
A
Dh
f
G
h
Kn
L
Nu
P
R
q
Re
T

Surface area (m2 )

Hydraulic diameter (m)
Fanning friction factor
Mass flux (kg/m2 s)
Heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K)
Knudsen number
Length (m)
Nusselt number (= q/AHT *TLMTD )
Pressure (kPa)
Gas constant
Heat transfer (W)
Reynolds number (= G*Dh /)
Temperature ( C)

Greek

mean free path (m)

Viscosity (N/sm2 )
Density (kg/m3 )

Subscripts
f
s

fluid
surface

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[60] SOTEC Microsystems, 11 avenue des Baumettes, 1020 Renens, Switzerland.

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[70] Eigler, D.M., and Schweizer, E.K., Nature 344, April 5, 1990,
pp. 524526.
Satish Kandlikar has been a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at RIT for the
last twenty-two years. He received his Ph.D. from
the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay in
1975, and was a faculty member there before coming to RIT in 1980. His research is mainly focused
in the area of flow boiling. After investigating
the flow boiling phenomenon from an empirical
standpoint, which resulted in widely accepted correlations for different geometries, he started to look at the problem from
a fundamental perspective. Using high speed photography techniques, he
demonstrated that small bubbles are released at a high frequency under flow
conditions. He is also working in the areas of binary flow boiling and bubble
formation in inkjet printing application. He has given a number of invited
and keynote talks nationally and internationally.
William Grande has worked in the field of microfabrication for over two decades. His research
has centered on the fabrication tools, processes,
and devices used in the areas of III-V semiconductor lasers, optoelectronics, microsystems, and
MEMS. He holds the BSEE and BSChE from the
New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.S.
and Ph.D. in Applied and Engineering Physics
from Cornell University. After ten years of industrial research experience at the IIT Research Institute and Kodak Research
Labs, he joined the faculty of the Department of Microelectronic Engineering at RIT, where his activities are focused on expanding the curriculum and
research effort in Microsystems. Dr. Grande holds 16 patents and founded
Tiger Microsystems, Inc., which specializes in the commercialization of
microsystem-based products.

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