Composite liquid cooling plate based on a micro-pin-finned vapor chamber for chip cooling in high heat flux applications

Conventional liquid cooling suffers from inefficient heat dissipation for high heat flux chips, limited by the low thermal conductivity of cooling housing, which causes severe temperature elevation and concentrated hotspots. Vapor chambers have been increasingly adopted for chip thermal management due to the outstanding heat spreading performance, but their further application is hindered by its poor thermal load capacity. Integrating the advantages of both schemes, this study presents a composite liquid cooling plate scheme based on a micro-pin-finned vapor chamber (MPFVC). After being packaged with the cooling housing, the micro-pin fins on the MPFVC surface construct microchannels, enabling the coolant to directly contact the MPFVC and remove heat efficiently. Combined with simulation, thermal resistance analysis and thermal tests, the optimal wick structure and filling ratio of MPFVC were determined. The MPFVC with a staggered rib network wick structure and a 45% filling ratio (SCPW3–45%) delivers the optimal thermal performance, achieving a heat load of 350 W (242.9 W/cm²) and a thermal resistance of 0.059 K/W at a 90 °C threshold temperature. Furthermore, SCPW3–45% features good anti-gravity thermal performance and reliability, which can meet the demands for efficient heat dissipation of high heat flux chips under most operating conditions. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd.