Articles from August 2004 Issue

Communication Network Power Efficiency Assessment, Limitations and Directions

August 1st, 2004

Introduction Despite the slowdown in the communication industry, Internet traffic continues to grow rapidly, fueled by the explosion in data communications, mobile Internet, e-commerce, content rich applications, and multi-media services. Internet traffic has increased by…read more

Keep Cool by Sensing Current to Control Fans

August 1st, 2004

Control of cooling fans has become increasingly popular as efforts are made to reduce system power consumption and mechanical fan noise. The purpose of including a fan is to reduce temperature and keep it as…read more

Opto-electronic Transceiver Modules, a System Design Perspective

August 1st, 2004

Introduction Small Form Factor (SFF) optical transceiver packages for use at 1-2 Gbits/s data rates have been described by several authors [1-5]. These rely on dual miniature optical connectors such as the MT-RJ or the…read more

The Thermal Conductivity of Silicon Dioxide

August 1st, 2004

Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is one of the most common and also one of the most important materials in the world as it is the basis for our windows, beaches and wine glasses. It is also…read more

Thermal Vias – A Packaging Engineer’s Best Friend

August 1st, 2004

Introduction In the 1990′s, with the advent of surface mounting of semiconductor packages, multilayer printed circuit boards and multilayer substrates for Ball Grid Array packages were introduced. In order to create electrical interconnections between the…read more

Trends in Cooling of Electronics: The Use of Thermal Roadmaps

August 1st, 2004

Introduction Miniaturization, integration of functionality, and the increase of clock speed are recognized business drivers in the electronics industry today. Consequences are the fast increase in power dissipation leading to higher heat fluxes, higher temperatures…read more