The next generation of microprocessors, the semiconductor ?brains? of computers, not only produce higher overall temperatures but also create one or more concentrated hot spots of particularly high heat on the chip. These hot spots, typically found above areas where the most amount of work is performed on the chip, must be kept to within a specified temperature to ensure high-performance and reliability. Traditional means of cooling these chips, such as heat sinks, fan sinks and heat pipes, require a large mass of metal to passively absorb and spread the heat to aircooled fins. These passive technologies cannot effectively cool the hot spots produced in next generation microprocessors..