Patent ID: 7849914

Claim:
Apparatus for cooling a microelectronic device comprising: a rigid support ring having a bottom surface; a mechanically resilient, thermally conductive bottom membrane having a top and a bottom surface, wherein the top surface of the membrane is attached to the bottom surface of the ring; a top member with a bottom surface forming a sealed chamber enclosed by the top surface of the bottom membrane, the support ring, and the bottom surface of the top member; a first aperture for introducing cooling fluid into the chamber; a second aperture for withdrawing cooling fluid from the chamber; and a multiplicity of thermally conductive posts having top and bottom surfaces, the posts being attached at their bottom surfaces to the top surface of the bottom membrane and at their top surfaces to the bottom surface of the top member, wherein the posts are arrayed with spaces therebetween so that heat transferred from the microelectronic device to the bottom surface of the membrane may be transferred to the multiplicity of thermally conductive posts.