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Lightweight, Low-Cost, High-Performance Heat Sink for High-Power Electronics

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Navy
Contract: N00014-02-M-0110
Agency Tracking Number: N02-056-11
Amount: $100,000.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 2002
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
12173 Montague Street
Pacoima, CA 91331
United States
DUNS: 052405867
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Arthur Fortini
 Manager of R&D
 (818) 899-0236
 art.fortini@ultramet.com
Business Contact
 Craig Ward
Title: Engineering Admin. Mgr.
Phone: (818) 899-0236
Email: craig.ward@ultramet.com
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

"A key design limitation of many current electronic systems is heat rejection. As microchips become ever more densely packed with greater quantities of components, the amount of heat generated per unit area likewise increases rapidly. As the junctiontemperatures within an electronic component increase, the reliability and useful lifetime of the device decrease rapidly, even silicon carbide (SiC) components. In this project, Ultramet proposes to model and fabricate a lightweight, low-cost,high-performance heat sink for actively cooled high-power SiC-based electronics. This new heat sink will utilize open-cell silicon carbide foam as its key component, which will act as a high thermal conductivity, high surface area cooling fin. Becausesilicon carbide has a higher thermal conductivity per unit weight than copper, and because the foam will have a useful surface area an order of magnitude greater than typical aluminum fin devices, the proposed device will greatly outperform the currentdevices and simultaneously provide a substantial weight savings. The perfect thermal expansion match between the advanced SiC-based electronic components and the heat sink will greatly simplify design issues. Ultramet will not only fabricate and test aSiC foam cold plate, but also model its performance at a fundamental engineering level. Commercial applications for advanced heat sinks for electronic components include military radar, military, civil,

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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