Figure-of-merit for phase-change materials used in thermal management

Abstract

In this work, we utilize a figure-of-merit (FOM) to compare the performance of various phase-change materials (PCMs) in managing short bursts of high-power heat flux, particularly those associated with microprocessors undergoing bursty operation on a time scale of approximately one second. We numerically investigate the FOM for applications that have realistic boundary conditions and lack analytical solutions. We also fabricate microprocessor proxies with integrated PCM compartments mounted in a smartphone package, and experimentally demonstrate the use of a high-FOM PCM to buffer short heat spikes as large as 11 W/cm2.