Engineers often describe a vapor chamber as a planner heat pipe or heat spreader.  In other words,  it is a two-phase device used to spread heat from a heat source to a heat sink.  For electronics cooling applications, the heat transfer is usually to a heatsink close to the heat source.

The use of vapor chambers has increased markedly as both the total power and, as a result of shrinking die sizes, the power density has skyrocketed. In terms of price and application flexibility, today’s vapor chambers are both more capable and lower cost than even a decade ago.

The most popular vapor chamber technology combination is a copper envelope using a copper sintered wick with water as the working fluid.

How Does a Vapor Chamber Work?

In the most common vapor chamber heatsink configuration, the heat source directly contacts the underside center portion of the vapor chamber. Consequently, the design engineer attached a heatsink to the top side. As a result, some of the working fluid (water) vaporizes and travels to cooler areas. The fin array absorbs this heat, causing the vapor to condense and return to liquid form. This liquid is reabsorbed by the wick material and distributed, through capillary action, to the heat source, where the cycle repeats.

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