A structure and method for fabricating a continuous cooling channel in the back end of line wiring levels of an integrated circuit (IC) chip is provided. This continuous cooling channel may provide a path for a cooling source such as a fluid pumped from an external fluidic-cooling circulation driver to make physical contact locally with and cool the back end levels within the IC chip that may generate heat as a byproduct of the IC device's routine operations. Such a cooling structure is achieved by removing a horizontal portion of a barrier layer from an intermediate region of an interlevel interconnect structure, selective to a vertical portion of the barrier layer located on a sidewall of the interlevel interconnect structure, using gas cluster ion beam etching as well as removing the bulk conductor by additional means.