Articles from May 2001 Issue

An alternative approach to junction-to-case thermal resistance measurements

May 1st, 2001

As more and more integrated circuits dissipate power at levels once reserved for power discrete devices, junction-to-case thermal resistance (JC or RJC) remains as important as ever. The difficulties in making JC measurements often leads…read more

Characterizing a package on a populated printed circuit board

May 1st, 2001

This column has emphasized methods of analyzing packages in the JEDEC-standard test environment. A thermal metric that lends itself to analyses of system applications is the junction-to-board thermal characterization parameter, JB. If one knows the…read more

General aspects on fan selection and layout

May 1st, 2001

Introduction and Description of Fan Types Small ventilators are generally called fans. Depending on the geometrical design of the impeller, various constructional types are distinguished to indicate the main direction of the airflow. Here are…read more

Parameters affecting package thermal performance a low end system level example

May 1st, 2001

Thermal management of electronic equipment is a dynamic process. For example, the anticipated power trends for CMOS technology can be found in the roadmaps of [1 and 2]. They closely follow the rapidly rising power…read more

The submerged double jet impingement (SDJI) method for thermal testing of packages

May 1st, 2001

Over the past decades, the functionality of electronic parts has improved considerably. Increasing power requirements of semiconductor chips make it difficult to keep the temperature below the imposed limits. Thermal management of the chip is…read more

The thermal conductivity of unfilled plastics

May 1st, 2001

This time, the focus is on the thermal conductivity of unfilled plastics. There are hundreds of them, so only a small selection can be presented. From a thermal point of view, plastics are a notoriously…read more

Visualization of air flows in electronics systems

May 1st, 2001

The three-dimensional shape and irregular nature of electronic component topologies on air-cooled Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) give rise to complex air flow patterns that have been well documented [1]. Even laminar flows over relatively simple…read more