Vapor compression refrigeration is being adapted to cool computer and telecommunications equipment in a limited number of high performance applications. Vapor compression can lift large heat loads and can heat sink at below ambient temperatures. Cold plates can offset high case-to-junction temperature gradients to keep high power integrated circuits from overheating and/or can … [Read more...]
Parameters affecting package thermal performance a low end system level example
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 trends seen in the 1980s for the bi-polar circuits [3] but with a time shift by a decade. It is a fortunate circumstance that a tremendous amount of heat transfer … [Read more...]
Low temperature electronic cooling
The potential for low temperature enhancement of CMOS performance has been recognized for some time, going back as far as the late 1960's and mid-1970's. A collection of articles focusing on low temperature electronics is included in the book by Kirschman(1) where a number of researchers [2-6] have identified the advantages of operating electronics at low temperatures. Jaeger … [Read more...]
Application of Thermoelectric Coolers for Module Cooling Enhancement
Figure 1. Cooling power density for different T.E. cooler designs (adaped from Vandersande and Fleurial [6]). Introduction Many advances in computer technology have been made possible by increases in the packaging density of electronics. These advances began with the introduction of the transistor in 1947 and continue today with ultra-large scale integration at the chip level … [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...]