Design consideration and fabrication of a microchannel system containing a set of heaters and an array of temperature sensors

The objective of this paper is to present several possible design considerations and a fabrication process for a complicated microchannel system that contains a set of heaters, and an array of temperature sensors. The completed channel is tested and presented in this paper. This microchannel can allow liquid or air flow through the channel and the measured signals from these temperature sensors can be used to study the microthermal and flow transport processes. Information for the microflow and the heat transfer process is very important for the basic understanding in IC chip cooling. Both the insulation of the channel and uniform heating of the heater are also considered and analyzed in this paper so that an accurate heat transfer data can be obtained. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.