A prototype miniature heat pipe has been fabricated that is compatible with MCM-C processing. The post-fired alumina heat pipe is constructed as a laminate structure using thick film dielectric (glass) paste to hermetically bond the layers together. An axially grooved wick fabricated in alumina by laser patterning provides capillary pumping action. The working fluid for the heat pipe was water: In addition, axially grooved heat pipe structures have been demonstrated in high and low temperature cofired green tape ceramic technology. The prototype heat pipe was found to have an effective thermal conductance of over 3000 W/m-K, which is more than 100 times higher than the alumina it replaced within the substrate.
