Requirements for High Flux Cooling of Future Avionics Systems

An industry survey was performed to determine future needs for high flux heat removal in advanced electronics systems. The focus of the survey was to determine technology development requirements for military avionics systems. Commercial electronics suppliers were included because many high-power devices are being developed in that part of the industry. This paper presents a summary of all of the interviews and literature reviewed. The summary is sorted by broad application categories, which are: 1) commercial digital systems, 2) military data processors, 3) power processors, and 4) radar and optical systems. For applications expected to be fielded in five to ten years, the outlook is for steady state flux levels of 100 watts per chip for digital processors and several hundred watts per device for power control applications using advanced MOSFETs or MOS-controlled thyristor technology.