Various new advanced composite materials are now available, which provide great advantages over conventional materials for electronic packaging thermal control, including: Extremely high thermal conductivities (up to twice that of copper) Low, tailorable coefficients of thermal expansion Extremely high strength and stiffness Low densities Low cost, net shape fabrication … [Read more...]
The thermal conductivity of ceramics
Ceramics are increasingly used in packages and printed circuit boards, because they have a number of advantages over plastics: much higher thermal conductivity, possible match of the coefficient of thermal expansion, and hermetic sealing. Unfortunately, the cost of ceramics is still much higher than that of plastics, prohibiting their use in low-cost high-volume products. … [Read more...]
Determining the junction temperature in a plastic semiconductor package, part 1
One of the primary tasks of the thermal engineer is to determine the temperature of the junction (active circuitry on an integrated circuit) for the various packages in a system. Measurements performed in the industry-standard test environment are often used in this endeavor. The most common thermal metric [1,2] is the junction-to-air thermal resistance, JA (pronounced theta, … [Read more...]
Test methods for characterizing the thermal transmission properties of phase-change thermal interface materials
All phase change thermal interface materials are designed to minimize the thermal resistance in an interface between a heat generating component and a heat sink. How well they achieve this goal in a specific application depends on how judiciously their phase change characteristics are matched to the interface specifications. The purpose of this paper is to present the results … [Read more...]
The thermal conductivity of aluminum oxide
Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3) is an important ceramic for the electronics industry. Besides its use as a passivation layer on Silicon, the ceramic is often used as a carrier for thick and thin film passive components and for other small printed circuit boards. A relatively low cost is combined with a relatively high thermal conductivity, especially when compared to FR4 board material. … [Read more...]
