An On-Chip SiC MEMS Device with Integrated Heating, Sensing, and Microfluidic Cooling Systems

There has been increasing interest in electronic systems with integrated microfluidic active cooling modules. However, the failure of 3C-SiC/Si interface with increasing temperature has prevented the development of 3C-SiC power electronic devices. Here, all integrated transparent heating, sensing, and cooling systems are developed on a single silicon carbide (SiC) chip for efficient thermal management. SiC nanofilms are grown on a silicon wafer, are transferred to a glass substrate, and then a micro electromechanical system process is employed to fabricate a SiC-on-glass system with integrated heaters and temperature sensors. A cooling system is fabricated with microchannel using 3D printing, molding, and plasma assisted bonding. The thermal management of the SiC-based system shows an excellent capability of heating and detecting temperature as well as effective cooling with an efficiency of from 0.24 to 0.28 and a maximum cooling rate of 0.1 K(mu L min(-1))(-1). The fabrication strategy can be utilized for large production of SiC power nanoelectronics with high efficiency of integrated thermal management systems.