Thermal Design is one of the most challenging aspects of computer system design. This is definitely the case when it comes to designing for “fault tolerance” and “high availability” in high-speed multiprocessor-based systems. The inherent challenges associated with fault tolerance not only bring demanding design requirements but headaches as well. The term fault tolerance … [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...]
Heatsink attachment and thermal interface effects on production assembly and repair
Today's market offers many heatsink attachment and thermal interface options. Your design decisions usually aim to optimize product performance at minimum cost. Secondary effects, not always sufficiently considered, significantly impact production cost, delivery performance, and reliability. These effects stem from the impact of the heat sink attachment design on the product … [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...]
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