Patent Application
20240357729
The present disclosure relates generally to cooling components and electronic assemblies with a cooling component.
A system on a wafer (SoW) assembly can include a SoW and a heat dissipation structure coupled to the SoW. In some applications, a SoW can include voltage regulating modules (VRMs) and a thermal interface material between the heat dissipation structure and the SoW. A cold plate can be positioned near to the VRMs to cool the VRMs during operation. There are technical challenges related to implementing a cold plate in an electronic assembly with limited area while also providing a desired amount of cooling.
In one aspect, there is provided a system, comprising: an array of electronic components; a printed circuit board assembly; a cold plate having a plurality of openings therethrough, the cold plate arranged between the array of electronic components and the printed circuit board assembly, and the cold plate configured to cool the array of electronic components; and a plurality of pass through connectors arranged in the openings of the cold plate and configured to connect the array of electronic components to the printed circuit board assembly.
In some embodiments, the cold plate comprises a cold plate body including an array of cooling elements, each of the cooling elements is configured to cool at least one of the electronic components, and each of the cooling elements houses a set of fins.
In some embodiments, the cold plate further comprises an inlet port configured to receive a coolant and an outlet port configured to discharge the coolant.
In some embodiments, the cold plate further comprises: an inlet manifold connected to the inlet port, an outlet manifold connected to the outlet port, and a plurality of flow channels connecting the inlet manifold to the cold plate body and the cold plate body to the outlet manifold.
In some embodiments, the cooling elements are arranged in a plurality of parallel coolant flow paths, each of the flow channels is connected to the cold plate body via a corresponding orifice, and each of the orifices has a diameter to provide a substantially equal flow rate through the parallel coolant flow paths.
In some embodiments, the inlet manifold and the outlet manifold are arranged in a different plane than the cold plate body.
In some embodiments, the fins are arranged in one of the following configurations: in parallel, serpentine, cylindrical, or staggered.
In some embodiments, the pass through connectors comprise pogo pins.
In some embodiments, the pass through connectors are further configured to provide one or more of electrical, thermal, or communication conductivity between the array of electronic components and the printed circuit board assembly.
In some embodiments, the electronic components are voltage regulating modules (VRMs).
In some embodiments, the printed circuit board assembly comprises an array of integrated circuit dies, and the pass through connectors are further configured to connect the array of integrated circuit dies to the array of voltage regulating modules.
In another aspect, there is provided a cold plate for cooling an array of electronic components, the cold plate comprising: a body including an array of cooling elements, wherein the body has a plurality of openings formed therethrough, and each of the openings is configured to receive at least one pass through connector; an inlet port configured to receive a coolant; an inlet manifold configured to receive the coolant from the inlet port; a plurality of inlet channels configured to route the coolant from the inlet manifold to the body; an outlet port configured to discharge the coolant; an outlet manifold configured to route the coolant to the outlet port, and a plurality of outlet channels configured to route the coolant from the body to the outlet manifold.
In some embodiments, the inlet manifold and the outlet manifold are arranged in a different plane than the body.
In yet another aspect, there is provided a cold plate for cooling an array of electronic components, the cold plate comprising: a body including an array of cooling elements, wherein the body has a plurality of openings formed therethrough, and each of the openings is configured to receive at least one pass through connector; an inlet port configured to receive a coolant and provide the coolant to the body; and an outlet port configured to discharge the coolant from the body.
In some embodiments, the cold plate further comprises: an inlet manifold configured to receive the coolant from the inlet port; a plurality of inlet channels configured to route the coolant from the inlet manifold to the body; an outlet manifold configured to route the coolant to the outlet port; and a plurality of outlet channels configured to route the coolant from the body to the outlet manifold, wherein the inlet manifold and the outlet manifold are arranged in a different plane than the body.
In some embodiments, each of the cooling elements is configured to cool a corresponding electronic component arranged adjacent to the cooling element.
In some embodiments, each of the cooling elements houses a set of fins configured to increase heat transfer to the coolant.
In some embodiments, the fins are arranged in one of the following configurations: in parallel, serpentine, cylindrical, or staggered.
In some embodiments, the cooling elements are arranged in a plurality of parallel coolant flow paths, each of the inlet channels is connected to the body via a corresponding orifice, and each of the orifices has a diameter to provide a substantially equal flow rate through the parallel coolant flow paths.
In still yet another aspect, there is provided a system comprising: an electronic component;
In some embodiments, the system further comprises: a printed circuit board assembly arranged such that the cold plate is positioned between the electronic component and the printed circuit board assembly, wherein the pass through connector is configured to electrically connect the electronic component to the printed circuit board assembly.
In some embodiments, the pass through connectors comprise pogo pins.
In some embodiments, the cold plate houses a set of fins.
Embodiments of this disclosure will now be described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The following detailed description of certain embodiments presents various descriptions of specific embodiments. However, the innovations described herein can be embodied in a multitude of different ways, for example, as defined and covered by the claims. In this description, reference is made to the drawings where like reference numerals and/or terms can indicate identical or functionally similar elements. It will be understood that elements illustrated in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Moreover, it will be understood that certain embodiments can include more elements than illustrated in a drawing and/or a subset of the elements illustrated in a drawing. Further, some embodiments can incorporate any suitable combination of features from two or more drawings. The headings provided herein are for convenience only and are not intended to affect the meaning or scope of the claims.
System on a wafer (SoW) assemblies are examples of electronic assemblies. SoW assemblies can include a SoW and a cooling system that is coupled to the SoW. The SoW can include an array of integrated circuit dies. The SoW assembly can include a wafer level packaging structure. The SoW and the cooling system can include an array of electronic components or modules, such as voltage regulating modules (VRMs), positioned therebetween. A thermal interface material (TIM) can be positioned between the electronic components and the cooling system. As discussed below, the cooling system can include a cold plate configured to cool the VRMs.
One or more aspects of the present application correspond to a two-sided cold plate with power and signal delivery systems. Coolant that flows through the microchannels inside the cold plate can enable cooling high power components on both sides of the cold plate. In some embodiments, the cold plate can implement or otherwise incorporate openings or slots that can accommodate pass through connectors, such compliant connectors (e.g., as pogo pins, flexible pins, spring contacts, etc.), sockets and plugs, and/or male and female connectors. Such connectors can be embedded in a housing or magazine that can be press fit in the slots in the cold plate. The assembly method and form factor of pins-as well as their number and dimension-can vary depending on the implementation. The connectors can be used to transfer power and/or data signals through the cold plate between electronic components. In certain embodiments, the cold plate includes inlet and outlet coolant manifolds on two ends.
Cold plates disclosed herein can provide liquid cooling to electronic components on opposing sides of a respective cold plate. For example, a cold plate can provide cooling to both voltage regulating modules on one side of the cold plate and electronic components on a control board on an opposite side of the cold plate. Such a cold plate can also cool pass though connectors between the electronic components on opposing sides, where the pass though connectors are positioned in openings in the cold plate. Cold plates disclosed herein can provide structural stiffness and/or rigidity to a central region of a system on a wafer assembly. Cold plates disclosed herein can be used to cool arrays of electronic components on opposing sides in certain applications. A cold plate in accordance with any suitable principles and advantages disclosed herein can cool an individual electronic component on each opposing side.
As illustrated in
The control board 20 can include an array of electronic components 22. The control board is an example of a printed circuit board (PCB). In
The pass through connectors 24 can electrically connect the electronic components 22 on the control board 20 to the VRMs 16. For example, each of the openings in the cold plate 200 can be configured to receive a plurality of pass through connectors 24, which may be housed in a housing such as a cartridge. The pass through connectors 24 can be configured to connect electric components arranged on opposite sides of the cold plate 200 in order to provide power and/or control signals therebetween.
In accordance with more aspects of the present application, the structure of the cold plate 200 of the present application can allow for concurrent efficient cooling and data/power delivery, which enables a compact design. Certain applications have demanding space specifications, such that any space savings within the footprint of the assembly that can be leveraged to improve processing capabilities. For example, in the VRM context, with more of the footprint used by the array VRMs rather than other components, greater compute density and/or processing power can be achieved.
Certain SoW assemblies provide separate physical area on the board for power delivery and/or signal transfer. However, such designs have either (1) limited the cold plate size, which would typically affect the thermal performance and supported power negatively, consequently limiting the overall performance of the system; and/or (2) increased the board area, which would affect the volume efficiency and compactness of the system. Avoiding an increase in the board size can prevent reduced performance due to increased compute latency associated with larger board size. Aspects of this disclosure can solve at least some of these problems by providing cooling as well as power delivery and/or signal transfer though a cold plate without limiting the cold plate size and/or increasing the board area.
Although aspects of this disclosure are described in connection with a SoW assembly 10 including a plurality of VRMs, this disclosure can also be employed in other applications, such as for dense servers, mezzanine boards, etc.
With reference now to
With reference to
In addition, the inlet manifold 204 and the outlet manifold 212 can be located in a different plane compared to the body 209 of the cold plate 200 as shown in
Depending on the embodiment, the cold plate 200 and fins 210 are designed to increase heat transfer to the coolant 218 and decrease the flow rate of the coolant 218. In some embodiments, the heat transfer to the coolant 218 may be greater than a threshold heat transfer rate and the flow rate of the coolant may be less than a threshold flow rate. The cold plate 200 also includes flow paths near the corner of each cooling element 400 that connect the elements forming the parallel coolant flow paths 220 (see
Since the coolant 218 flows between opposite corners of the cold plate 900, the cold plate 200 can be implemented without manifolds (e.g., see the inlet manifold 204 and the outlet manifold 212 of
Any suitable principles and advantages disclosed herein can be applicable to wafer level packaging and/or high density multiple die packaging. Though the embodiments disclosed herein used VRMs as an example, any suitable electrical module, component, die, chip, or the like may be mounted on a wafer and utilize any suitable principles and advantages disclosed herein. Any suitable combination of features of two or more embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented.
The SoW assemblies disclosed herein can be included in a processing system. Features of this disclosure, such as any of the features of the cold plates disclosed herein, can be implemented in any suitable processing system. The processing system can include the SoW assembly 10 of
In addition, while aspects of this disclosure are described in connection with an array of electronic components, aspects of this disclosure can be applied a cold plate configured to cool a single electronic component on one side. For example, a cold plate configured to cool an electronic component can include one or more openings formed therethrough. The opening(s) can receive one or more pass through connectors configured to provide thermal, power, and/or communication connectivity between the electronic component and a printed circuit board or other electronic component, where the cold plate is arranged between the electronic component and the printed circuit board or other electronic component.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” “include,” “including” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” The word “coupled”, as generally used herein, refers to two or more elements that may be either directly connected, or connected by way of one or more intermediate elements. Likewise, the word “connected”, as generally used herein, refers to two or more elements that may be either directly connected, or connected by way of one or more intermediate elements. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number, respectively. The word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.
Moreover, conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” “for example,” “such as” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments.
The foregoing description has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the inventions to the precise forms described. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Others skilled in the art are thereby enabled to best utilize the techniques and various embodiments with various modifications as suited to various uses.
Although the disclosure and examples have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included within the scope of the disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/260,387, titled “ELECTRONIC ASSEMBLIES AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME,” filed Aug. 18, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2022/040419 | 8/16/2022 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63260387 | Aug 2021 | US |
