Nextreme Thermal Solutions has launched its OptoCooler HV series, an RoHS-compliant high voltage and high heat pumping thermoelectric cooler that has been optimised for standard circuitry and power requirements.
The first module in the series, the OptoCooler HV14, is the latest product in Nextreme's OptoCooler family of thermoelectric coolers designed specifically for the optoelectronics and telecommunications industry.
The OptoCooler HV14 operates at a maximum voltage of 2.9V and can pump 1.7W of heat at 85°C in a footprint of only 2.8 mm2. The module can create a temperature differential (DeltaT) of up to 51°C between its hot and cold sides, making it ideally suited for the cooling and temperature control of optoelectronic devices such as laser diodes and high brightness LEDs.
At the core of the OptoCooler module is Nextreme's Thermal Copper Pillar Bump, an electronic device made from thin-film thermoelectric material embedded in flip chip interconnects (in particular, copper pillar solder bumps) used in electronic and optoelectronic packaging. Thermal bumps act as solid-state heat pumps and add thermal management functionality locally on the surface of a chip or other electrical component. Nextreme has reduced the size of the thermal bump by 75 per cent, thereby increasing voltages by 300 per cent and reducing current draw by the same proportion. The net result eliminates the need for special voltage conditioning and reduces the overall electrical current required to operate the device.
The new platform uses an array-based assembly (ABA) process that improves the throughput capability and manufacturing tolerances. The ABA process decreases the size of Nextreme's thermal bumps to approximately 125 microns, which makes them flip-chip bumping compatible with standard solder bumping processes commonly used in electronics packaging. Consequently, as product volumes scale, manufacturers of LEDs and other semiconductor chips can integrate cooling and temperature control functionality directly in the package during assembly.