dr. suresh garimella

electro-thermal co-design at the micro- and nano-scales is critical for achieving desired performance and reliability in microelectronic circuits and other microsystems. emerging thermal microsystems technologies for this application area will be discussed, with specific examples including a novel micromechanical electrohydrodynamic micropump, electrowetting for fluidic actuation and site-specific thermal control, ion-driven airflow, and miniature piezoelectrically actuated cantilevers for cooling and sensing. fundamental research into enabling technologies for such microsystems, conducted by the speaker’s group under the framework of the national science foundation compact, high-performance cooling technologies research center (www.ecn.purdue.edu/ctrc), will be presented. this includes single- and two-phase microchannel transport, thin-film evaporation, transport in porous metal foams and wicks, and enhancement of interface contact conductance.