Abstract
A detailed sensitivity study was carried out on various key parameters from a high precision numerical model of a microelectronic package cooled by natural convection, to provide rules for the thermal modeling of microelectronic packages subjected to natural convection heat transfer. An accurate estimate of the junction temperature, with an error of less than 1˚C, was obtained compared to the experimental data for the vertical and horizontal orientations of the test vehicle in the JEDEC Still Air configuration. The sensitivity study showed that to have an accurate estimate of the temperature, the following elements should be present in the thermal model: radiation heat transfer in natural convection cooling; a computational fluid dynamics analysis to find realistic convection coefficients; detailed models of the high conductivity elements in the direction of the heat flow towards the environment; and finally precise values for the thicknesses of layers and the thermal properties of the substrate and the printed circuit board.
Highlights
The performance of microelectronic systems deteriorates rapidly when their temperature exceeds a certain limit
A detailed sensitivity study was carried out on various key parameters from a high precision numerical model of a microelectronic package cooled by natural convection, to provide rules for the thermal modeling of microelectronic packages subjected to natural convection heat transfer
The sensitivity study showed that to have an accurate estimate of the temperature, the following elements should be present in the thermal model: radiation heat transfer in natural convection cooling; a computational fluid dynamics analysis to find realistic convection coefficients; detailed models of the high conductivity elements in the direction of the heat flow towards the environment; and precise values for the thicknesses of layers and the thermal properties of the substrate and the printed circuit board
Summary
The performance of microelectronic systems deteriorates rapidly when their temperature exceeds a certain limit. 125 ̊C for processors and 85 ̊C for memory chips. The purpose of thermal management is to maintain throughout the equipment a temperature distribution with limited variations above the recommended limits. The advancement in IC package development driven by the increase of transistor density and miniaturization makes the task of the packaging designer more challenging
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