Electronics Thermal Management At The Extremes

Abstract: The heat generated by semiconductor devices and electronic components is a big problem for a variety of products and systems ranging from radar and satellites to vehicle electronics, smartphones, and servers. “Extreme” is a unifying theme, from nanometer features and 10+ kW chips to severe materials heterogeneity.  In this talk I’ll summarize these challenges and our research progress on breakthrough thermal solutions involving nanoscale heat conduction physics, advanced thermal conduction materials, as well as two phase microfluidic heat sinks.  This presentation will also highlight two decades of collaborations with the semiconductor industry, Silicon Valley startups, and defense companies.  In this talk, I’ll also spend some time introducing you to the Mechanical Engineering department at Stanford.

About the Speaker: Ken Goodson chairs the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University, where he holds the Davies Family Provostial Professorship.  His lab has graduated 40 PhDs, nearly half of whom are professors at schools including MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. Honors include the Kraus Medal, the Heat Transfer Memorial Award, the AIChE Kern Award, and recent named lectureships at MIT, Purdue, and UIUC. Goodson received BS (1989) and PhD (1993) from MIT and is a Fellow with ASME, IEEE, APS, and AAAS. He co-founded Cooligy, which built microfluidic cooling systems for the Apple G5. As Mechanical Engineering Department Vice Chair from 2008-2013, Goodson led faculty recruitment and hiring and continued these efforts from 2013 as ME Chair. These years have brought 15 new faculty into a roster of 40 total, dramatically increasing the scope and depth of the department’s research and teaching and transforming its demographics and diversity.