Thermal and hydrodynamic studies for micro-channel cooling for large area silicon sensors in high energy physics experiments

Abstract Micro-channel cooling initially aiming at small-sized high-power integrated circuits is being transferred to the field of high energy physics. Today's prospects of micro-fabricating silicon opens a door to a more direct cooling of detector modules. The challenge in high energy physics is to save material in the detector construction and to cool large areas. In this paper, we are investigating micro-channel cooling as a candidate for a future cooling system for silicon detectors in a generic research and development approach. The work presented in this paper includes the production and the hydrodynamic and thermal testing of a micro-channel equipped prototype optimized to achieve a homogeneous flow distribution. Furthermore, the device was simulated using finite element methods.