Bulk amorphous alloy heat sink
AssigneesCrucible Intellectual Property, LLC, Apple Inc.
InventorsChristopher D. Prest, Joseph Poole, Joseph W. Stevick, Quoc Tran Pham, Theodore Andrew Waniuk
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Abstract
Embodiments herein relate to a heat sink having nano- and/or micro-replication directly embossed in a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy comprising a metal alloy, wherein the heat sink is configured to transfer heat out of the heat sink by natural convection by air or forced convection by air, or by fluid phase change of a fluid and/or liquid cooling by a liquid. Other embodiments relate apparatus having the heat sink. Yet other embodiments relate to methods of manufacturing the heat sink and apparatus having the heat sink.
Claims28
A method of forming a heat sink, comprising:
- heating at least a first portion of a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy component comprising an amorphous phase of a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy to a first temperature greater than a glass transition temperature (Tg) of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy and below a melting temperature (Tm) of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy;
- while the first portion of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy component is at the first temperature, embossing, with a mold or a stamp, nano- and/or micro-scale features on a surface of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy component;
- cooling the first portion of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy component to a second temperature below Tg;
- and
- after embossing the nano- and/or micro-scale features, crystallizing at least a second portion of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy component along the surface, thereby converting an amount of the amorphous phase in the second portion to a crystalline phase.
A heat sink comprising:
- a metal alloy structure of unitary construction comprising:
- a first portion comprising a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy having an amorphous phase;
- a second portion having a crystalline phase;
- and
- nano- and/or micro-scale features embossed on a surface of the metal alloy structure;
- wherein
- the heat sink is configured to transfer heat by natural convection by air or forced convection by air;
- and
- the crystalline phase is formed along the surface of the metal alloy structure.
A heat sink comprising:
- a component formed of a unitary metal structure and comprising:
- at least one of nano- or micro-scale features formed at a crystalline surface of the component and configured to dissipate heat;
- and
- a base portion comprising an amorphous phase of a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy and having a thermal conductivity lower than a thermal conductivity of the crystalline surface and a same chemical composition as the crystalline surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.