Nextreme has developed an advanced thin film embedded thermoelectric cooler (eTEC) which aims to address the thermal management needs of the electronics, photonics, biotechnology and aerospace industries. Functioning as a miniature, solid-state heat pump, the eTEC can be used to cool hot spots resulting from localised areas of high heat flux on an IC. The nano-structured device is manufactured using semiconductor processing techniques. The eTEC pumps heat from low thermal conductivity materials to a high thermal conductivity material, thereby cooling the hot spots. This cooling increases product performance while reducing system costs.
The eTEC has a fast response time for rapid cooling and heating to maintain a precise temperature depending on the needs of the application. The device pumps a maximum heat flux of 150 W/cm2 with some designs delivering as much as 400 W/cm2. In a high Coefficient of Performance system, Nextreme’s eTECs can still pump a heat flux of 50-100 W/cm2.