DARPA Microsystems Technology Office – Miniature integrated Thermal Management Systems for Heterogeneous Integration (Minitherms 3D) – HR001123S0019

The Minitherms3D program seeks to revolutionize thermal management for three-dimensional heterogeneous integration (3DHI). This program seeks to significantly reduce thermal resistances within the 3D stack and external to the stack of 3DHI systems, while increasing volumetric heat removal.

DARPA is seeking innovative proposals for R&D of compact thermal management technology scalable to an arbitrarily large number
of high-power tiers in a 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI) chip stack.

Specific program goals include: 3D stacking of five tiers with total heat dissipation > 6.8 kW (compared to 1 kW for single tier state-of-the art (SOTA)) logic die today) with the heat rejection system limited to < 0.006 m3 (> 2X smaller than SOTA). These enhancements must be fully compatible with the electrical device and interconnect performance goals for the given applications.

Technical challenges include reducing both the thermal resistances within and external to the 3D stack.