DESIGN AND TESTING OF LIQUID COOLED THERMAL SOLUTION FOR HIGH LOADING (SOCKET P) PROCESSORS

摘要

In recent years, semiconductor industry has manufactured processors which can be socketed and installed using specially designed retention mechanisms. Due to increased power and I/O capabilities for processors from generation to generation, the number of pins on the socket is increasing. This pin number increase is translated directly to increased retention loading force on thermal management solutions for reliable electrical contact and thermal interface material actuation. For recent generation of Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor Family, a maximum retention force of 1334 N (300 lbf) needs to be transferred to the socket via thermal solution i.e. heat sink or cold plate. In liquid cooling applications, this high loading requirement calls for a stiffer cold plate. At the same time, other regulatory and thermal requirements such as burst pressure and thermal performance need to be satisfied. A liquid cooled thermal solution was developed for the Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor Family Platform. This thermal solution considers a modular bracket design which allows changing the material responsible for the load application on the thermal solution for a stronger and/or lighter one, without impacting the thermal performance due to material selection. This paper presents the design strategy, numerical analysis, test fixture setup for mechanical and thermal analysis, and prototype test results for mechanical and thermal performance of designed cold plates. This paper will be helpful to guide the thermal community to design a liquid cooled thermal solution for future generation of processors in data center applications and as well as for different electronic components.