Thermal Transport Model for Heat Sink Design

A document discusses the development of a finite element model for describing thermal transport through microcalorimeter arrays in order to assist in heat-sinking design. A fabricated multiabsorber transition edge sensor (PoST) was designed in order to reduce device wiring density by a factor of four. The finite element model consists of breaking the microcalorimeter array into separate elements, including the transition edge sensor (TES) and the silicon substrate on which the sensor is deposited. Each element is then broken up into subelements, whose surface area subtends 10 × 10 microns. The heat capacity per unit temperature, thermal conductance, and thermal diffusivity of each subelement are the model inputs, as are the temperatures of each subelement. Numerical integration using the Finite in Time Centered in Space algorithm of the thermal diffusion equation is then performed in order to obtain a temporal evolution of the subelement temperature. Thermal transport across interfaces is modeled using a thermal boundary resistance obtained using the acoustic mismatch model.

The document concludes with a discussion of the PoST fabrication. PoSTs are novel because they enable incident x-ray position sensitivity with good energy resolution and low wiring density.

This work was done by James A. Chervenak, Richard L. Kelley, Ari D. Brown, Stephen J. Smith, and Caroline A. Kilbourne of Goddard Space Flight Center. For more information, download the Technical Support Package (free white paper) at www.techbriefs.com/tsp under the Information Sciences category. GSC-15671-1

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