876 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 32, NO.

4, DECEMBER 2009

Design and Optimization of Single-Phase Liquid

Cooled Microchannel Heat Sink
Laxmidhar Biswal, Suman Chakraborty, and S. K. Som

Abstract—Semiconductor devices for demanding automotive N Number of microchannels.

applications generate a large amount of heat (>100 W/cm2 ). Nu Nusselt number.
These high power devices can be cooled off very effectively
P Pressure drop (Pa).
by liquid coolant flowing through the microchannel heat sink.
Microchannel heat sinks are very attractive because of their com- Q Total heat (W).
pactness, light weight, and large surface-to-volume ratio. Higher Re Flow Reynolds number.
surface-to-volume ratio results in enhanced cooling performance. Rth Thermal resistance (°C/W).
In this paper, a systematic robust analytical method is pre- Rjc Junction-to-case resistance (°C/W).
sented for design and optimization of single-phase liquid cooled
Rcs Case-to-sink (interface) thermal resistance (°C/W).
microchannel heat sink. Effects of various design parameters
such as eccentricity and footprint of heat source or device, Rcon Conductive thermal resistance (°C/W).
thickness of the heat sink base, channel aspect ratio, number of Rcap Coolant capacitive thermal resistance (°C/W).
microchannels or fins, coolant flow rate, and thermal conductivity Rfin Fin thermal resistance (°C/W).
of heat sink material on heat sink thermal resistances and pres- Rsp Spreading thermal resistance (°C/W).
sure drop are delineated. Finally, analytical results are compared
t Thickness of base of heat sink (m).
with experimental data and good agreement is obtained. The
analytical method helps to reduce the design cycle time and time- Ths-maxMaximum temperature of heat sink (°C).
to-market significantly. Tf -in Inlet temperature of coolant (°C).
Tf -m Average temperature of coolant (°C).
Index Terms—Design, heat sink, microchannel, optimization,
semiconductor, single-phase, thermal resistance. Tf -outOutlet temperature of coolant (°C).
um Average flow velocity (m/s).
Vf Volumetric flow rate of coolant through channels
Nomenclature (m3 /s).
Whs Width of microchannel heat sink (m).
Ahs Footprint of microchannel heat sink (m2 ). Ws Width of heat source (m).
As Footprint of heat source (m2 ). Wch Width of microchannel (m).
Cpf Specific heat of coolant [J/(kg·K)]. Wfin Width of fin (m).
Dh Hydraulic diameter of microchannel (m). Xc Centroidal X-coordinate of heat source (m).
f Friction factor. Yc Centroidal Y-coordinate of heat source (m).
G Geometric

−2 factor of microchannel
 Greek Symbols
(α + 1) (α−1 + 1)2 .
α Aspect ratio of microchannel (Lch /Wch ). 
K Pressure loss coefficient.
β Ratio of fin width to channel width (Wfin Wch ).
kf Thermal conductivity of coolant [W/(m·K)].
η Fin efficiency.
khs Thermal conductivity of heat sink [W/(m·K)].
µf Viscosity of coolant [kg/(m·s)].
Lch Depth of microchannel (m).
ρf Density of coolant (kg/m3 ).
Lhs Length of microchannel heat sink (m).
Ls Length of heat source (m).
.
m Total mass flow rate of coolant through channels. I. Introduction
Manuscript received June 17, 2008; revised March 1, 2009. First version
published September 15, 2009; current version published November 20, 2009.
Recommended for publication by Associate Editor T. Lee upon evaluation of
W ITH INCREASED heat generation in semiconductor
devices for very demanding automotive applications
such as hybrid electric vehicle programs, it is imperative to
reviewers’ comments.
L. Biswal is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian design and develop highly efficient cooling solutions to dissi-
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India, on leave from DELPHI pate high amount of heat (e.g., >100 W/cm2 ). The high heat
Tech Center India, Kalyani Platina, Whitefield, Bangalore 560066, India dissipating devices need to be maintained at desired junction
(e-mail: lbiswal@mech.iitkgp.ernet.in).
S. Chakraborty and S. K. Som are with the Department of Mechanical temperature limit to achieve higher thermal reliability and
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India (e-mail: sustained functionality. Microchannel heat sinks for cooling
suman@mech.iitkgp.ernet.in; sksom@mech.iitkgp.ernet.in). of high heat dissipating devices are particularly attractive for
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. they are compact, light weight, and yet offer large surface-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TCAPT.2009.2025598 to-volume ratio. Higher surface-to-volume ratio results in
1521-3331/$26.00

c 2009 IEEE

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BISWAL et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF SINGLE-PHASE LIQUID COOLED MICROCHANNEL HEAT SINK
Fig. 1. Schematic layout of microchannel heat sink and heat source.
enhanced cooling performance. Microchannel heat sinks have
been studied extensively [1]-[19] and discussions on all that
work are not repeated here for the sake of brevity. In this paper,
we propose a comprehensive and systematic robust analytical
methodology for design and optimization of microchannel heat
sinks. The analytical methodology helps to predict transport
phenomena (Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient, total
and spreading thermal resistance, and pressure drops) of the
microchannel heat sinks with arbitrarily located semiconductor
devices (shown in Fig. 1). The footprint of semiconductor
devices is generally smaller than that of the microchannel heat
sink. When heat flows from the device to the liquid coolant,
it encounters various thermal impedances on its path such as
internal thermal resistance of the device (known as junction-
to-case thermal resistance, Rjc ), interface thermal resistance
between device and cold plate (Rcs ), constriction/spreading
resistance (Rsp ) [20], conductive resistance (Rcon ), capacitive
resistance (Rcap ) and fin resistance (Rfin ). While the two
formers (Rjc and Rcs ) are external to the heat sink, the latter
fours (Rsp , Rcon , Rcap , and Rfin ) are internal to the heat sink
and will be addressed in this paper.
In this paper, both fully developed and simultaneously de-
veloping flow through the microchannel heat sink are consid-
ered to delineate their relative effect on the pertinent transport
phenomena. The flow is considered to be single-phase and
laminar for the range of the flow Reynolds number (Re)
generally encountered in microfluidic applications. The flow
through the microchannels transitions to turbulent flow beyond
the Reynolds number of 2100 as established by the micro-PIV
experiments [21]. It is also established by the experiments [21]
that the hydrodynamic entrance length (Le ) is decreased from
conventional value of (0.06*ReDh ) to (0.033*ReDh ) for the
entire range of laminar flows in the microchannel heat sink.
The reason of decrease in entrance length is attributed to the
predevelopment in the upstream reservoir of the microchannel
heat sink. This fact may lead to the safe assumption of
using developed flow correlations (instead of developing flow
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877
correlations) for designing the microchannel heat sinks and
is a subject matter of the study in this paper. Radiation and
free convection from the external surfaces of the microchannel
heat sink are neglected in comparison with forced convection
through the microchannels.
II. Mathematical Model
Geometrical configuration of the microchannel heat sink is
shown in Fig. 1. The bottom cover is assumed to be adiabatic.
Thermal performance of the heat sink is characterized by its
total thermal resistance (Rtot ). Thermal resistance of any heat
sink is a critical parameter that decides its suitability for a
particular heat sinking application. Mathematically, Rtot should
be less than [(Tjmax − Tf -in )/Q − (Rjc + Rcs )] for a heat sink
where (Tjmax ) is the maximum junction temperature of the heat
dissipating device, (Tf -in ) is inlet temperature of the coolant,
(Q) is heat dissipation from the device, (Rjc ) is the junction-
to-case thermal resistance of the device, (Rcs ) is the interface
thermal resistance between the device and the heat sink. It is
imperative to determine optimum geometrical parameters of
the heat sink that would result in desired thermal resistance and
pressure drop for cost effective and efficient thermal solutions.
Based on the theoretical formulation [3], total thermal
resistance of the microchannel heat sink with uniform heat
flux on the entire footprint of the heat sink is given by the
relation
Ths-max − Tf -in
Rtot = = Rfin + Rcap + Rcon . (1)
Q
Equation (1) does not consider the spreading or constriction
resistance a device generally encounters while interfaced with
a relatively larger heat sink. The spreading resistance may form
a significant part of the total thermal resistance and hence
should be included in the formulation. With consideration
of spreading resistance, the total thermal resistance of the
microchannel heat sink for an arbitrarily located heat source
is given by
Ths-max − Tf -in
Rtot = = Rfin + Rcap + Rcon + Rsp . (2)
Q
The conductive thermal resistance is defined by
t
Rcon = . (3)
khs Ahs
The capacitive (sometimes referred to as advective) thermal
resistance [3] is defined by
1 1 1 1 1 + β Lhs
Rcap = . = = (4)
m Cpf 2ρf Cpf Vf Cpf µf Re 1 + α Ahs
where Vf is the volumetric flow rate of the coolant. The factor
2 is incorporated in the above equation as the average coolant
temperature [Tf -m = (Tf -in + Tf -out )/2] is used for the calculation
of the thermal resistance from the channel walls to bulk fluid
[14].
The fin thermal resistance is defined by
1 1 1 + β 2α Wch
Rfin = (5)
Nu kf 1 + 2αη 1 + α Ahs
878 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 32, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2009

where
⎧
⎨ = λi
Lch Wfin tanh(mα) ρf um Dh ξ = δj (14)
α= ,β = ,η = , Re = (6) ⎩
Wch Wch mα µf = βij
 ⎫
iπ ⎪
1 + α kf Vf 2Wch Lch λi = ⎪
⎪
m= Nu , um = , Dh = . (7) Whs ⎪
⎪
αβ khs NWch Lch Wch + Lch ⎪
⎬
jπ
δj = . (15)
Number of microchannels (N) required for the specified Lhs ⎪
⎪
 ⎪
⎪
heat sink configuration is defined as ⎪
⎪
βij = λ2i + δ2j ⎭
Whs − Wfin
N= . (8)
Wch + Wfin Pressure drop across the microchannel heat sink consists of
Semiconductor devices/packages can have a single or (a) pressure drop in the microchannel, (b) pressure drop at the
multiple integrated circuits (ICs) on the same die or multiple inlet due to the flow constriction, and (c) pressure drop at the
die. Die or junction-to-case (Rjc ) thermal resistance effectively outlet due to flow expansion.
captures the internal thermal resistance [(Tjmax − Tc )/Qt ] The friction factor for fully developed laminar flow through
of the device by considering maximum temperature (Tjmax ) the microchannel is given by [3]
of any IC or die, case temperature (Tc ) of the device and
total power dissipation (Qt ) from the device accounting for f · Re = 4.7 + 19.64G. (16a)
the power dissipation from all the ICs or die. So far as
the heat sink is concerned, it sees a single heat source in the The friction factor for developing laminar flow through
form of a device or package. For a single device or package the microchannel is given by [7]. It is interesting to
located anywhere on the base of the microchannel heat sink, note that the first term in (16b) accounts for the pressure drop
constriction/spreading resistance of the microchannel heat in the developing region and the second term in (16b) is for
sink is defined as follows [20]: the pressure drop in the developed region as shown in (16a).

∞ 
2 1/2
2 cos(λi Xc ) sin(λi Ws /2)
Rsp = Ai φ(λi ) f ·Re = 3.2 (ReDh /Lhs )0.57 + (4.7 + 19.64G)2 (16b)
khs Whs Lhs Ws2 i=1 λi
∞
2 cos(δj Yc ) sin(δj Ls /2) where
+ Aj φ(δj )
khs Whs Lhs Ls j=1
2 δj
α−2 + 1
4
∞ 
 ∞ G= . (17)
+ (α−1 + 1)2
khs Whs Lhs Ws2 L2s i=1 j=1
Pressure drop across the microchannel heat sink is given as
cos(λi Xc ) sin(λi Ws /2)
×Aij  
λi ρf u2m Lhs
P = 4f +K . (18)
cos(δj Yc ) sin(δj Ls /2) 2 Dh
× ϕ(βij )
δj (9)
Loss coefficient (K) at the inlet and the outlet of the heat
sink is found out from [7]
where


 K = 0.6σ 2 − 2.4σ + 1.8 (19)
Ws Ws
2 sin (Xc + )λi − sin (Xc − )λi
Ai = 2 2
(10)
λ2i where σ is the ratio of flow cross-sectional area in the fin
structure to the overall inlet/outlet area

Ls

Ls

2 sin (Yc + )δj − sin (Yc − )δj NWch Lch NWch
Aj = 2 2
(11) σ= = . (20)
δ2j (Whs Lch ) Whs

16 cos(λi Xc ) sin(λi Ws /2) cos(δj Yc ) sin(δj Ls /2) Nusselt number for fully developed laminar flow in the
Aij = (12) microchannel is given by [3, 22]
λi δj βij
ht Nu 
= 8.235
ξt + tanh(ξt) 
khs 2.042 3.0853 2.4765 1.0578 0.1861
ϕ(ξ) = (13) × 1− + − + − .
ht α α2 α3 α4 α5
+ ξt ∗ tanh(ξt)
khs (21a)

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BISWAL et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF SINGLE-PHASE LIQUID COOLED MICROCHANNEL HEAT SINK 879

TABLE I
Pertinent Input Parameters

Parameters Value
Lhs 10 mm
Whs 10 mm
Wch 100 µm
Lch 300 µm
Wfin 100 µm
.
V 1.0 mL/s
khs 100 W/(m·K)
Coolant Water

The average Nusselt number for simultaneous developing

laminar flow in the microchannel is given by [7]

3
Nu = 2.22 (RePrDh /Lhs )0.33 + (8.31G − 0.02)3
where Re is Reynolds number, Pr is Prandtl number, Dh is
the hydraulic diameter of the microchannel, Lhs is the length
of the microchannel and G is the parameter defined in (17).
The first term in (21b) accounts for the heat transfer in the
developing region and the second term in (21b) is for the heat
transfer in the developed region [7].
Heat transfer coefficient (h) is found out from the following
relation and used in (13):
hDh
Nu = . (22)
kf
III. Solution Methodology
Equations (1)–(22) are solved analytically to predict spread-
ing and total thermal resistance, Nusselt number, heat transfer
coefficient, channel aspect ratio, number of microchannels, and
pressure drop.
IV. Results and Discussions
The microchannel heat sink with an arbitrarily located heat
source is studied analytically for single-phase fully developed
as well as developing laminar flow with constant thermophys-
ical properties. Effects of various design parameters such as
eccentricity and footprint of heat sources, thickness of heat
sink base, channel aspect ratio, number of microchannels or
fins, coolant flow rate, and different heat sink materials are
evaluated to study total and spreading thermal resistances,
and other transport phenomena such as Nusselt number, heat
transfer coefficient, friction factor, and pressure drop. The
pertinent input parameters listed in Table I, until and unless
stated otherwise, are used for the design and optimization
studies of the microchannel heat sink.
A. Developed Versus Developing Flow
Both fully developed and developing flows are studied to
differentiate their relative impact on the thermal performance
1/3
(21b) Fig. 2. Total thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink for different
locations of the device along the y-axis for fully developed (1) and developing
(2) flows.
of the microchannel heat sink. Footprint of the device is con-
sidered at 5 mm × 5 mm and thickness of the heat sink base is
0.5 mm. All other input parameters are taken from Table I. The
device is placed at the center of the heat sink in the x-direction
and at different locations along the y-direction (from the
center toward the upstream direction). Total thermal resistance
of the heat sink is predicted using the fully developed and
developing flow heat transfer correlations such as (21a) and
(21b) respectively and is shown in Fig. 2. Total thermal
resistance for fully developed flow varies from 1.1 to 0.921
°C/W corresponding to the edge and center-located device
along the y-axis. Similarly for developing flow, total thermal
resistance varies from 0.972 to 0.834 °C/W for the edge and
center-located devices along the y-axis. The difference in total
thermal resistance between fully developed and developing
flow is 13% for the device located at the inlet of the heat sink
and 10% for the device located at the center of the heat sink.
This difference can be considered within the permissible limit
to assume the flow as fully developed. Results presented in the
subsequent sections have used developed flow correlations.
B. Effect of Eccentricity of the Device
Total and spreading thermal resistance for a heat source
footprint of 5 mm × 5 mm placed at different locations along
the y-axis is shown in Fig. 3. Thickness of the microchannel
heat sink base is considered to be 0.5 mm. Other parameters
for the microchannel heat sink are taken from Table I. As the
location of the device shifts from the inlet (or edge) toward
the center (along the y-axis) of the heat sink, spreading resis-
tance becomes the minimum and hence lowest total thermal
resistance is achieved. A similar trend is expected for the
device moving from the edge to the center of the heat sink
along the x-axis. Total thermal resistance varies from 1.1 to
0.921 °C/W for the edge and center located device on the
heat sink. Spreading resistance varies from 0.776 to 0.596
°C/W for the device moving from the edge to the center of

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880 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 32, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2009
Fig. 3. Total and spreading thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink
for different locations of the device along the y-axis. Temperature rise (dT)
due to total thermal resistance is also plotted for a heat source or device
dissipating 100 W/cm2 .
the heat sink along the y-axis. It is noticed that spreading
resistance constitutes 65–70% of the total thermal resistance
and the spreading resistance is 30% higher for the edge located
device than that located at the center of the heat sink. Net tem-
perature increase for a die dissipating 100 W/cm2 is 23.0 °C
corresponding to a centrally-located device and 27.5 °C cor-
responding to an edge-located (along the y-axis) device.
C. Effect of Footprint of the Semiconductor Device
Device or heat source with different footprints is studied.
The center of the heat source or device is located at the center
of the heat sink base. All the input parameters are taken
from Table I. Thickness of the heat sink base is considered
at 0.5 mm. Total and spreading thermal resistance is plotted
in Fig. 4(a). With increase in heat source footprint, spreading
thermal resistance decreases and vanishes when the heat source
footprint equals that of the heat sink. Spreading resistance for
smaller footprint devices constitutes a major portion of the
total thermal resistance as shown in Fig. 4(a). Total thermal
resistance varies from 3.0 to 0.324 °C/W while spreading
resistance varies from 2.676 to 0.0 °C/W for 4–100% heat
source coverage. Temperature increase of heat sink due to
total and spreading thermal resistance for a heat source of
100 W/cm2 is plotted in Fig. 4(b). It is seen from Fig. 4(b)
that increase in temperature of the heat sink due to spreading
and total thermal resistance for 4% heat source coverage is
66.9 °C and 75.0 °C respectively whereas for 25% heat source
coverage they are 14.9 °C and 25.0 °C respectively.
D. Effect of Base Thickness of Microchannel Heat Sink
Base thickness of microchannel heat sink can affect spread-
ing and total thermal resistance significantly. Three different
heat source footprints such as (2 mm × 2 mm), (5 mm × 5 mm),
and (8 mm × 8 mm) located at the center of the heat sink are
studied with different base thickness (t) in conjunction with the
input parameters listed in Table I and total thermal resistances
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are plotted in Fig. 5(a), (b), and (c) respectively. For a given
heat source footprint, there is an optimum thickness (t) of
the heat sink base for which total thermal resistance (as well
as spreading resistance) is minimum. For (2 mm × 2 mm) heat
source the lowest total thermal resistance is 2.284 °C/W cor-
responding to 2.0 mm base thickness, for (5 mm × 5 mm) heat
source the lowest total thermal resistance is 0.826 °C/W cor-
responding to 1.25 mm base thickness, and for (8 mm × 8 mm)
heat source the lowest total thermal resistance is 0.411 °C/W
corresponding to 0.4 mm base thickness. Optimum thickness
of the heat sink base for different percentages of heat source
coverage is plotted in Fig. 5(d) and an equation fitted into
the curve is shown thereof. For the known percentage of heat
source coverage, optimum thickness of heat sink base can
be predicted using the equation depicted in Fig. 5(d). With
increase in heat source footprint, the desired (optimum) base
thickness (t) is reduced to obtain the lowest thermal resistance
of the microchannel heat sink.
E. Effect of Channel Aspect Ratio (α)
Different aspect ratios (α = Lch /Wch ) of the microchannel
are studied to evaluate their effect on thermal performance of
the heat sink. All the input parameters (listed in Table I) such
as flow rate, width of fins, footprint of heat sink, and width
of microchannels are kept constant. The heat source footprint
is considered at 5 mm × 5 mm. Depth of microchannels (Lch )
is varied to obtain different aspect ratios (α) keeping width
of microchannel constant at 100 µm. It should be noted
here that fin height increases as the depth of microchannel
increases. Increase in fin height offers increased surface area
for enhanced heat transfer. With increase in channel depth
(Lch ), free area available to flow increases and velocity of
flow decreases for fixed flow rates. Flow Reynolds number
(Re) decreases with decrease in flow velocity (um ) even if
there is an increase in hydraulic diameter (Dh ) with increase
in channel depth (Lch ).
Fully developed Nusselt number (Nu) and heat transfer
coefficient (h) are shown in Fig. 6(a). At low aspect ratio,
the Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient are higher
because of higher flow velocity. With increase in aspect ratio,
flow velocity decreases and hence Nu and h decrease, reach
a minima and then increase again because of increase in
fin surface area resulting in lower temperature rise of the
heat sink. At aspect ratios of 0.65, 1.0, and 10, the Nusselt
number is 3.829, 3.61, and 6.787, respectively whereas the
average heat transfer coefficient is 32 207, 23 925, and 24 741
W/(m2 ·K), respectively. Though the Nusselt number is very
high at highest aspect ratio than that at lowest aspect ratio,
the heat transfer coefficient is not higher at highest aspect
ratio than that at lowest aspect ratio. The race between the
flow velocity and fin surface area determines the decease or
increase in the Nusselt number and associated heat transfer
coefficient at various aspect ratios.
Total and spreading thermal resistance reach the peak at a
particular aspect ratio and lower on either side of the peak as
shown in Fig. 6(b). At aspect ratios of 0.65, 1.0, and 10, total
thermal resistance is 0.95, 1.026, and 0.819 °C/W whereas
spreading thermal resistance is 0.502, 0.569, and 0.561 °C/W,
BISWAL et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF SINGLE-PHASE LIQUID COOLED MICROCHANNEL HEAT SINK
Fig. 4. (a) Total and spreading thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink for different percentage of heat source coverage. (b) Temperature rise (due to
total ‘Rtot ’ and spreading ‘Rsp ’ thermal resistance) of the microchannel heat sink for different percentage of heat source coverage for a heat source dissipating
100 W/cm2 .
respectively. It is noticed that the total thermal resistance
decreases by 20% while spreading resistance decreases by
1.4% by varying the channel aspect ratio from 1.0 to 10. This
signifies the fact that fin resistance (Rfin ), capacitive resistance
(Rcap ), and conductive thermal resistance (Rcon ) are decreased
with increase in aspect ratio. At lower aspect ratio, thermal
resistance is lower because of higher flow velocity, and
increases to a peak because of lower flow velocity resulting
from the increase in aspect ratio and then decreases due to
increased fin surface area resulting from the increase in aspect
ratio even if the flow velocity is lower. Thermal resistance is
lowest at higher aspect ratio channels because of significant
increase in fin surface areas resulting in lower temperature
rise of the heat sink. However, beyond a certain aspect ratio
(e.g., α = 8.0), rate of change in thermal resistance is very
negligible signifying the fact that infinite increase in fin
height (increases with increase in channel depth) does not
produce comparable heat transfer enhancements.
Pressure drop (dP) and flow Reynolds number (Re) corre-
sponding to different aspect ratios are plotted in Fig. 6(c). With
increase in channel aspect ratio from 0.65 to 10, Re decreases
from 602 to 90 whereas pressure drop decreases from 61.88
to 1.01 kPa. For low aspect ratio channels, the flow Reynolds
number is very high because of higher flow velocity accompa-
nied with significant pressure drops across the microchannel
heat sink as shown in Fig. 6(c). The Reynolds number and
pressure drop decrease because of lower flow velocity resulting
from the increase in channel aspect ratio. Higher aspect ratio
microchannel offers lower pressure drop and lower thermal
resistance but at the cost of increased fin surface area and
higher space requirement for the heat sink.
F. Effect of Number of Microchannels
Total thermal resistance and pressure drop for different
number of microchannels obtained by varying the fin width
(Wfin ) and channel width (Wch ) are plotted in Fig. 7(a) and
(b), respectively. All the properties, except channel width and
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881
fin width, are taken from Table I. Base thickness (t) of the
heat sink is considered to be 0.5 mm and heat source footprint
is considered at 5 mm × 5 mm. Depth of channel (Lch ) is
considered to be 300 µm. For variable fin width (Wfin ) model,
channel width (Wch ) is fixed at 100 µm. For variable channel
width (Wch ) model, fin width (Wfin ) is fixed at 100 µm.
Reducing the width of fins (Wfin ) or width of microchannels
(Wch ) from 350 µm to 50 µm, number of microchannels (N) is
increased for the specified width (Whs ) of the heat sink. With
variable fin width model, thermal resistance decreases from
1.078 °C/W (corresponding to 21 channels) to 0.892 °C/W
(corresponding to 66 channels) and with variable channel
width model, thermal resistance decreases from 1.641 °C/W
(corresponding to 22 channels) to 0.661 °C/W (corresponding
to 66 channels) as shown in Fig. 7(a). Thermal resistance
attains the same magnitude for a particular value of N for both
the models—variable fin width and variable channel width.
However, beyond this value of N, thermal resistance decreases
sharply in case of variable channel width model than that with
variable fin width model. Total channel opening area for vari-
able channel and fin width models is plotted in Fig. 7(c). When
the number of channels increases by reducing the width of the
fin (Wfin ), the total channel opening area increases, resulting in
lower flow velocity and lower pressure drop at fixed flow rate.
On the other hand, when the number of channels increases by
reducing width of the channel (Wch ), the total channel opening
area decreases, resulting in higher flow velocity and higher
pressure drop as evident in Fig. 7(b). In case of 66 channels,
total thermal resistance for the variable channel width model is
0.231 °C/W lower than that with the variable fin width model
but at the cost of 18.62 kPa increased pressure drop. A trade-
off between fin width and channel width is required in terms
of optimum pressure drop and thermal resistance.
G. Effect of Flow Rate
Total thermal resistance and pressure drop are plotted in
Fig. 8 for different flow rates of the coolant. All the properties
882 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 32, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2009

Fig. 5. (a) Total thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink with variable base thickness for a heat source footprint (As ) of 2 mm × 2 mm. (b) Total
thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink with variable base thickness for a heat source footprint (As ) of 5 mm × 5 mm. (c) Total thermal resistance of
the microchannel heat sink with variable base thickness for a heat source footprint (As ) of 8 mm × 8 mm (d) Optimum thickness of heat sink base for different
percentage of coverage of heat source footprint.

are taken from Table I. Base thickness (t) is optimum at
1.25 mm for the heat source footprint of 5 mm × 5 mm. Total
thermal resistance of the heat sink decreases from 0.826
to 0.715 °C/W and pressure drop increases from 4.12 to
42.11 kPa with flow rate variation from 1.0 to 8.0 mL/s. With
increase in flow rate from 1.0 to 8.0 mL/s, decrease in total
thermal resistance is 0.111 °C/W with an increase in pressure
drop of 37.99 kPa. An optimum operating point is that where
the curves for thermal resistance and pressure drop cross each
other as evident in Fig. 8. Beyond this point, increasing the
flow rate does not produce significant reduction in thermal
resistance.
H. Effect of Heat Sink Materials
Total thermal resistance and temperature rise (above the
inlet temperature of the coolant) for different materials of
heat sink are plotted in Fig. 9(a) and (b), respectively. All the
parameters, except thermal conductivity of the heat sink, are
taken from Table I. Three different materials of heat sink such
as silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu) are evaluated
with thermal conductivity of 100, 160, and 380 W/(m·K).
Heat sink with higher thermal conductivity offers significant
lower thermal resistance at relatively lower footprint of the
device. With increase in device footprint, difference in thermal
resistance of the heat sink for different materials diminishes.
For 4–100% heat source footprint coverage, total thermal
resistance varies from 3.0 to 0.324 °C/W for Si heat sink,
2.164 to 0.3 °C/W for Al heat sink, and 1.179 to 0.277 °C/W
for Cu heat sink whereas temperature rise varies from 75.0
to 8.1 °C, 54.1 to 7.5 °C, and 29.5 to 6.9 °C for Si, Al, and
Cu heat sink respectively. For 5 mm × 5 mm device footprint,
thermal resistance or temperature rise decreases by 20% for Al
heat sink and 42% for Cu heat sink in comparison with Si heat
sink. Using higher thermal conductive heat sink materials, the
required coolant flow rate and associated pressure drop can be
reduced resulting in a smaller or cheaper pump.

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BISWAL et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF SINGLE-PHASE LIQUID COOLED MICROCHANNEL HEAT SINK 883

Fig. 6. (a) Fully developed Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient for different aspect ratios of the channel. (b) Total and spreading thermal resistance
of the microchannel for different aspect ratio of the channel. (c) Pressure drop across the microchannel and flow Reynolds number for different aspect ratios
of the channel.

Fig. 7. (a) Variation of total thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink for different number of microchannels obtained by varying fin width (Wfin )
and channel width (Wch ). (b) Variation of pressure drop across the microchannel heat sink for different number of channels obtained by varying fin width
(Wfin ) and channel width (Wch ). (c) Variation of total channel opening area of the heat sink for different number of channels obtained by varying fin width
(Wfin ) and channel width (Wch ).

I. Comparison of Analytical and Experimental Results

Total thermal resistance of the heat sink and pressure
drop predicted using analytical correlations for developed and
developing flow through the microchannels are compared with
the experimental results of [14]. For comparison of analytical
and experimental results, all the inputs parameters are taken
from [14]. The device footprint is 12 mm × 12 mm. Footprint
of 21 channels and 20 fins is 15 mm × 12.2 mm etched on
aluminum block of 50 mm × 24 mm × 2.8 mm. Width of mi-
crochannels is 210 µm, depth of microchannels is 2.0 mm
and water is used as a coolant. For the purpose of analytical
prediction, footprint of microchannel heat sink is considered at
15 mm × 12.2 mm with 21 channels and 20 fins. Total thermal
resistance of the heat sink and pressure drop across the heat
sink is plotted in Fig. 10(a) and (b), respectively. It is noticed
that results predicted using developing flow correlations agree Fig. 8. Variation of total thermal resistance and pressure drop across the
well with experiments for the entire range of flow rates (in microchannel heat sink for different flow rates of the coolant.
the laminar regime) while good agreement is noticed between
results predicted using developed flow correlations and ex- footprint (15 mm × 12.2 mm) can in effect help to cool the
perimental data for the lower flow rates. In the experiments, device to some extent. The minor difference for thermal
the larger heat sink footprint (50 mm × 24 mm) having inlet resistance predicted analytically with developing flow correla-
and outlet plenums at the end of the channels and fins of tions and experiments can be attributed to the larger overall

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884 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 32, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2009

Fig. 9. (a) Variation of total thermal resistance of the microchannel heat sink made up of silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu). (b) Variation of
temperature rise (above the inlet temperature of the coolant) of the microchannel heat sink made up of silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), and copper (Cu).

Fig. 10. (a) Comparison of analytical predictions for developed and developing flow and experiments for total thermal resistance of the aluminum microchannel
heat sink for different coolant flow rates. (b) Comparison of analytical predictions for developed and developing flow and experiments for pressure drop across
the aluminum microchannel heat sink for different coolant flow rates.

heat sink block used in the experiments. Close agreement
between analytical predictions and experiments indicates that
the conventional heat transfer and friction factor correlations
hold good for the liquid flows through the microchannels used
in this paper.
V. Conclusion
Thermal and hydrodynamic performance of single-phase
liquid cooled microchannel heat sink was studied analytically
in the laminar flow regime for the arbitrarily located heat
source or device. Design parameters that result in lower
thermal resistance and lower pressure drop were discussed.
Close agreement for thermal resistance and pressure drop was
established between analytical predictions and experiments.
Developing flow empirical correlations hold good for a range
of flow rates while developed flow correlations hold good for
lower flow rates. The good agreement between analytical pre-
dictions and experiments indicates the fact that conventional
heat transfer and friction factor correlations are valid for flows
through the microchannels. The analytical method proposed in
this paper would help to design and optimize the microchannel
heat sink that exhibits superior thermal performance with low
pressure drop system.
The following items are the main observations of this paper.
1) The difference in total thermal resistance of the heat sink
for 25% heat source coverage (w.r.t. heat sink footprint)
using fully developed and developing flow is 13% for
the device located at the inlet of the heat sink and 10%
for the device located at the center of the heat sink.
2) Spreading resistance for 25% heat source coverage is
30% higher for the edge located device than that located
at the center of the heat sink.
3) Smaller footprint devices experience significant spread-
ing resistance. Spreading resistance for 4% heat source
coverage is 3.0 °C/W while that for 25% heat source
coverage is 0.921 °C/W.
4) For a given heat source footprint, there is an optimum
thickness (t) of the heat sink base for which total thermal
resistance is minimum. For 4% heat source coverage the
optimum base thickness is 2.0 mm while that for 25%
heat source coverage is 1.25 mm.

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BISWAL et al.: DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF SINGLE-PHASE LIQUID COOLED MICROCHANNEL HEAT SINK
5) Higher channel aspect ratio results in higher Nusselt
number, lower thermal resistance and lower pressure
drop. Nusselt number increases from 3.61 to 6.787,
total thermal resistance decreases by 20% (for 25%
heat source coverage), and pressure drop decreases from
24.33 to 1.01 kPa with increase in channel aspect ratio
from 1.0 to 10.
6) Higher numbers of channels obtained either by decreas-
ing the width of fin or channel within a specific heat
sink width result in lower thermal resistance and lower
pressure drop. Optimum thermal resistance of 0.921
°C/W (for 25% heat source coverage) is obtained for 50
channels with an associated pressure drop of 4.12 kPa.
7) Total thermal resistance of the heat sink for 25% heat
source coverage decreases by 13% with increase in flow
rate from 1.0 to 8.0 mL/s but pressure drop increases
significantly from 4.12 to 42.11 kPa.
8) Using higher thermal conductive heat sink materials,
the required coolant flow rate and associated pressure
drop can be reduced resulting in a smaller or cheaper
pump. For 25% heat source coverage, thermal resistance
decreases by 20% for Al heat sink and 42% for Cu
heat sink in comparison with Si heat sink.
Acknowledgment
The authors are greatly benefited by the comments and
suggestions from the reviewers. The scope and reach of the
paper is enhanced significantly by implementing the valuable
feedback of the reviewers.
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Laxmidhar Biswal received the M. Tech. degree in
thermal, energy and environmental engineering from
the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur,
India, in 1997. He is pursuing the Ph.D. degree
in microscale heat transfer and fluid flow from the
Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT.
Currently, he is working in DELPHI Tech Center
India, Kalyani Platina, Whitefield, Bangalore, India
as an Advanced Technical Leader. Twelve out of
his 20 years of professional experience focused on
analysis and modeling in mechanical, aerospace,
nuclear, and manufacturing engineering. His area of expertise is thermal
management, CFD, acoustics, multi-physics, and micro-scale thermofluid
science and engineering. He has developed several analytical tools and
computational algorithms for heat transfer and fluid flow analysis. He is
the author of several papers published in referred journals and has presented
papers in national and international conferences.
Suman Chakraborty received the Ph.D. degree in
mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of
Science (IISc), Bangalore, India, in 2002.
Currently, he is a Professor at the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Tech-
nology, Kharagpur, India. He is the author of more
than 130 papers published in international journals,
and has presented more than 50 papers in national
and international conferences. He has authored ten
chapters published in the Encyclopedia of Microflu-
idics and Nanofluidics (Springer, 2008).
Dr. Chakraborty is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering,
a Member of ASME, and Life Member of the Indian Society for heat and
mass transfer. He is a Member of the Editorial Advisory Committee for
the Open Thermodynamics Journal, and an Editorial Board Member for the
International Journal of Micro-Nano Scale Transport, and the International
Journal of Micro and Nano Systems. He is a consultant to General Motors
and has acted as a Principal Investigator/Coordinator in projects supported
by the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, NSF, DST, DIT, BRNS,
886 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING TECHNOLOGIES, VOL. 32, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2009
and DBT (Govt. of India). His areas of research are bio-microfluidics and
microscale transport processes, CFD, laser materials processing, solidification,
phase transitions and interfacial phenomena and modeling and simulation
of transport phenomena in materials processing/manufacturing. He has won
several awards, including: the Scopus Young Scientist Award in 2008, the
Swarnajayanti Award, the Indo-U.S. Fellowship for partial support toward
Visiting Professorship in Stanford University, the Platinum Jubilee Young
Scientist Award by the National Academy of Science in 2007, the Alexander
von Humboldt Fellowship in 2005, 2006, and 2007, the Anil Kumar Bose
Memorial Award in 2007 by National Science Academy (INSA), the INAE
(Indian National Academy of Engineering) Young Engineer Award in 2004,
the INSA (Indian National Science Academy) Medal for Young Scientist in
2003, the “Best CFD Thesis Award” based on a world-wide competition in
2002 (sponsored by StarCD and CD-Adapco), and the Best Thesis Award
from the Mechanical Eng. Department and Division of Mechanical Sciences,
Bangalore, in 2002.
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S. K. Som received the Ph.D. degree in mechanical
engineering from Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT), Kharagpur, India in 1977.
He is a Professor in mechanical engineering in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT, and
his teaching experience spans more than 34 years.
He has guided 15 Ph.D. and many Masters students
during his illustrious teaching career. From 2004
to 2007, he was the Head of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering at IIT, and he is currently
the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. He is the author
of more than 50 papers published in several peer-reviewed international
journals and delivered several keynote speeches in national and international
conferences. His areas of research are fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat
transfer, and combustion modeling. He has authored two books—Introduction
to Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Machines (Tata McGraw-Hill, 1998 and 2nd
edition 2004) and Introduction to Heat Transfer (Prentice Hall of India, 2008).
He has developed video course materials for distance education in the
National Educational Network Channel EKALAVYA on Fluid Mechanics,
Fluid Machines, Introduction to Compressible Flows, and Thermodynamics.
Dr. Som is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and
also of the National Academy of Sciences (India) and Institution of Engineers
(India). He is a consultant for several industrial and research organizations
such as the Indian Space Research Organization, National Metallurgical
Laboratory, Usha Martin, Tata Iron and Steel Company, and Aeronautical
Research and Development Board.