Ever since the advent of the automotive alternator, or claw-pole alternating current generator, in the 1960's, there has been an ever-increasing thermal design challenge to cool the power electronics in these machines. Figure 1 depicts a typical cutaway section of a modern day alternator. At first glance one may think that cooling the diodes in a rectifier bridge of an … [Read more...]
Understanding Phase Change Materials
Although phase change materials (PCM) were introduced nearly twenty years ago, it was not until the development of the high-powered Pentium processor that this class of interface material gained widespread acceptance. The large quantities of heat produced by these processors necessitated a carefully designed thermal path where all of the thermal resistances were minimized. For … [Read more...]
Dynamic Measurements: A Cornerstone of the European PROFIT Project
This article presents an overview of a number of dynamic measurement methods as part of the European PROFIT project. Due to lack of space, details cannot be given, but the interested reader is invited to consult the references at the end of the article. Because the majority of a product's cost and performance are committed in the early phases of a design cycle, it is envisioned … [Read more...]
Dynamic Temperature Measurements: Tools Providing a Look into Package and Mount Structures
Today it is commonly accepted that dynamic thermal measurements, which have been used for more than 20 years [1], [2], [3], [4], are superior to steady-state ones. The temperature vs. time function - often called the thermal step-response function, heating curve, or thermal impedance curve - is characteristic of the chip-to-ambient structure, including even different cooling … [Read more...]
Advanced Techniques for IC Surface Temperature Measurement
Introduction: The Need for IC Surface Measurement Techniques Current trends in microelectronic design generate challenges in both the design and test of integrated circuits (ICs). One area that has been gaining increased relevance with regard to the microelectronic evolution is thermal management/analysis, which proves essential in the domain of IC design to prevent reliability … [Read more...]
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