Introduction Since the development of the first electronic computers in the 1940s, thedevelopment of faster and denser circuit technologies and packages has beenaccompanied by increasing heat fluxes at the chip and package levels. Over theyears, significant advances have been made in the application of air coolingtechniques to manage increased heat fluxes. Although air cooling … [Read more...]
Applying computational fluid dynamics to heat sink design and selection
Abstract This article describes how Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can help inthe selection and/or design of a heat sink for electronics cooling applications.CFD modeling complements the other tools in the thermal tool kit: calculationsbased on approximations and correlations; and experimental work. Whether theapplication includes single or multiple heat sinks, the … [Read more...]
DELPHI – A status report on the European -union funded project for the creation and validation of thermal models on electronic parts
The accurate prediction of the operating temperatures of critical electronicparts at the component-, board- and system-level is seriously hampered by thelack of reliable, standardised input data. The DELPHI project is addressing thisproblem by the development and experimental validation of thermal models of avariety of `generic' electronic parts. DELPHI (which stands for … [Read more...]
Electronic package characterization per JEDEC standard
Introduction With the increase in power density resulting from advancements insemiconductor packaging technologies comes the issue of heat dissipation. Heatis generated as a result of electrical energy being converted to thermal energyduring circuit activities. The junction temperature of a chip directly affectsthe performance of the circuits and the reliability of … [Read more...]
Environmental stress testing – a product improvement method
Introduction and Summary In today's competitive environment, the electronics industry is focusing onbusiness process re-engineering or product improvements with emphasis ondevelopment and manufacturing intervals and costs, warranty costs, fieldreliability, and customer maintenance costs. Some of the improvement methodsused are cross-functional teams, concurrent engineering, … [Read more...]