These days, many thermal engineers face the challenge of defining effective heat sink cooling solutions for high power processors and ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). The usual practice would be to calculate a value of ΘJA…read more
Calculation Corner: Thermal Interactions Between High-Power Packages and Heat Sinks, Part 2
March 2nd, 2011
Calculation Corner: Thermal Interactions Between High-Power Packages and Heat Sinks, Part 1
December 6th, 2010
Bruce Guenin, PhD Associate Technical Editor The need to accommodate increasing chip power has led to improved package and heat sink designs having much lower thermal resistance values than previously. This has led to challenges…read more
The Uses of Simplicity in Thermal Analysis
July 26th, 2010
Bruce Guenin, PhD Editor-in-Chief, Summer 2010 Issue The dramatic trajectory of Moore’s law has produced a number of changes in key areas of technology that are critical to our industry: 1) greater packaging and system…read more
The Audacity of Engineering
February 1st, 2009
At the time of this writing (mid-November), it appears that significant progress has been made toward avoiding a global financial collapse and that we now have a good chance of avoiding that fate. Unfortunately, it…read more
When Moore Is Less: Exploring the 3rd Dimension in IC Packaging
February 1st, 2009
Introduction As consumers of electronics we have become spoiled. We not only expect our electronic devices to get smaller, faster, more functional, cheaper, more interconnected, and more reliable, we actually demand it. It would not…read more
Power Map Calculations Using Image Sources and Superposition
November 1st, 2008
Introduction In the past, thermal engineers were content to calculate a single junction temperature in the thermal characterization of an integrated circuit chip in a package. In recent years, as power levels have increased, more…read more
Heat Spreading Calculations Using Thermal Circuit Elements
August 1st, 2008
Heat Spreading Calculations Using Thermal Circuit Elements Bruce Guenin, Associate Technical Editor Introduction In electronics cooling applications, there are numerous changes of scale from the chip level to the system level. This is characteristic of…read more
Thermal Strain in Semiconductor Packages, Part II
November 1st, 2007
Introduction This Calculation Corner continues Part I, published in the previous issue [1]. Part I described the construction of a typical flip-chip package configuration for high-power chips, consisting of a laminate assembly of materials adhesively…read more
Thermal Strain In Semiconductor Packages, Part I
August 1st, 2007
Introduction Silicon became the semiconductor of choice for ICs because of its electrical properties, not because of its mechanical properties. In the earliest days of ICs when chips were small and power levels were low,…read more
Toward A Thermal Figure Of Merit For Multi-Chip Packages
November 1st, 2006
Toward A Thermal Figure Of Merit For Multi-Chip Packages Bruce M. Guenin, Ph.D., Associate Editor Introduction Last issue’s Calculation Corner dealt with methods for predicting the temperature of each chip in a Multi-Chip Package (MCP)…read more
So Many Chips, So Little Time; Device Temperature Prediction in Multi-Chip Packages
August 1st, 2006
Introduction The same trend that has led to ever-higher levels of integration of computation and processing functions on a single chip is now driving the integration of several chips into the same package. The use…read more
Packaging Challenges For High Heat Flux Devices
August 1st, 2006
Introduction It comes as no surprise to anyone in our industry that device power levels are increasing to support customer expectations of ever greater functionality and performance. The greatest thermal challenges in computing occur in…read more
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Heatsink
August 1st, 2005
Introduction When faced with the task of calculating the temperature of an IC in a package, which has an external heat sink mounted to it, a thermal engineer usually obtains a values of three thermal…read more
Entrance Effects For Heat Flow Into A Multi-Layer Printed Circuit Board
November 1st, 2004
Introduction Since their introduction, multilayer printed circuit boards have provided a significant benefit to the thermal management of IC packages. As is widely recognized, the power and ground planes in these boards function as fins…read more
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