In the last decade, we've come a long way in the application of thermal analysis to the design of electronics. And there's no sign of the pace of innovation changing. Engineers are still being challenged to build faster, smaller and cheaper products in ever-decreasing design times. Fortunately, the engineering software industry has been able to respond by providing tools that … [Read more...]
Thermal conductivity of composite materials
A composite material can be defined as a material in which two or more different materials are bonded together. It is sensible to make a distinction between macrocomposites and microcomposites. The first group usually has a layered structure, and PCBs are the main application. The second group looks uniform to the naked eye; materials from this group are often used for packages … [Read more...]
Computer-related thermal packaging at the millenial divide
Examples of state-of-the-art thermal management solutions at the dawn of the 21st century (left to right): a TCM module, a high-density heat sink, and an ultra performance, low profile fan-sink. Thermal management has served as a key enabling technology in the development of advanced microelectronic systems and has facilitated many of the "Moore's Law" [Moore, G.E., 1975] … [Read more...]
Ten stupid things engineers do to mess up their cooling
Editor's Note: On the eve of the new millenium, the editors of ElectronicsCooling have decided to depart from our normal serious tone just this once, unless, of course, we can convince Tony to contribute another story or two for us sometime [soon!] in the next thousand years. Herewith, for your amusement and edification is a humorous, yet insightful, retrospective of famous - … [Read more...]
The history of power dissipation
Figure 1. Transistor counts on Intel processors from inception to present superimposed on Moore's prediction. In his fascinating book, "Visions," Michio Kaku [1] predicts a future driven by silicon and quantum computers. Based on the information we have today, it is intriguing to speculate how such a highly silicon-based society might function and evolve. Being a thermal … [Read more...]
