Thermal Management in Electronic Systems

(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

THERMAL MANAGEMENT IN ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS

(Class notes and lecture material - compiled from various sources)
By
Dr.B.Raja

The material is compiled from various sources such as text books, papers, thesis, websites
etc. Thanks to all the sources. Your comments are suggestions are welcomed to update
an error free lecture material. The actual references of images will be inserted in the next
updated version.

References used for preparing this material

1. A.Jamnia, Practical Guide to the Packaging of Electronics Thermal and Mechanical

Design and Analysis, 2003, Marcel Dekker.
2. HoSung Lee, Thermal Design, Edition One, 2010, Wiley
3. D.A. Reay and P.A. Kew, Heat Pipes, Fifth Edition, 2006, Elsevier
4. F.P.Incropera, D.P.DeWitt, T.L. Bergman, A.S.Lavine, Introduction to Heat
Transfer,5th Ed, 2006
5. Yunus A. Cengel, Heat Transfer: A Practical Approach, Second Edition, 2002,
McGraw-Hill
6. Chengming Gao, Experimental Study on the Ranque-Hilsch Vortex Tube, Thesis,
Universiteitsdrukkerij, TUE, 2005
7. S.G. Kandlikar, S.Garimella, D.Li, S.Colin and M.R. King Heat Transfer and Fluid
Flow in Minichannels and Microchannels, 1st Edition, 2006, Elsevier
8. D.S.Steinberg, Cooling Techniques for Electronic Equipment, Second Edition, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1991.
9. J.G. Collier, J.R. Thome Boiling and Condenstaion, Oxford Press, 1996
10. Ralph Remsburg, Thermal Design of Electronic Equipment, CRC Press, 2001
11. M.F. Ashby, A.G. Evans, N.A. Fleck, L.J. Gibson, J.W. Hutchinson and H.N.G.
WadleyMetal Foams: A Design Guide, BH Publication, Ed 1, 2000
12. Images are taken from websites.
13. Thermopedia

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

About the class lectures

• Si units
• Theory – on screen
• Problems – on board
• Mark split : Quiz 1 – 20 : Quiz2 – 20 : Assignment – 10 : End sem – 50
• Bring calculator on every day
• Notes will be mailed at frequent intervals

Perquisites

• Fundamental of heat transfer

• Basics of thermodynamics
• Basics of fluid mechanics
• Importance of thermo physical properties
•

Thermal management

• Heat is just a by – product in an electronic circuit and it is not intentional

• The heat should be removed as it heat is generated
• Else internal energy of components will increase
• So does temperature
• Results in failure
• The component temperature decided by heat paths to the surroundings
• Decreasing every 10oC on components reduces the failure rate by a factor of 2
• Every 10°C on components drop doubles the life
• Every 10°C on components lower transistor temperature gives 1-3% performance
improvement

Present day’s electronics

• Enhancement of product functionality
• Condensed circuit boards – rapid functions
• Air-conditioning required for electronic system is heavy
• Some companies spend > $1bn each year on electricity
• Significant portion is used to cool the electronics

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

PAST : 1980s NOW

Intel Core i7
731000000 Transistors
95 to 135 W
So called fast computer
DCM Tandy TRS
2 MB RAM Liquid cooled – also an option
20 MB HDD

ADVANCED COOLING
Mother Board of DCM Tandy Liquid cooling
No Fans – No Heat sink

2 MB RAM, 4.77 MHz

2 ft

Peltier cooling
Intel 8086, 4.77 MHz

Transistors : 29,000
2 ft Total Heat

JUST 10 YEARS LATER : 1990 Mini Channel

Intel P4, 50 W, 1.5 GHz

Immersion cooling

1 ft

PAST AND THE FUTURE OF COOLING SYSTEMS

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

Processors details (http://www.intel.com/technology/timeline.pdf)

It can be seen that manufacturing an electronic device of characteristics lengths in

nanometer is possible. However, removing the heat from such a small source is difficult.
The heat is generated at the speed of electricity and the same should be removed fast.

Manufacturing
Processor Year No. of Transistor Clock Speed
Characteristic Length
Intel 4004 1971 2300 108 kHz 10 μ
Intel 8008 1972 3500 750 kHz 10 μ
Intel 8080 1974 4500 2 MHz 6μ
Intel 8086 1978 29000 5 MHz 3μ
Intel 8088 1979 29000 5 MHz 3μ
Intel 286 1982 134000 6 MHz 1.5 μ
Intel 386 1985 275000 16 MHz 1.5 μ
Intel 486 1989 1200000 25 MHz 1μ
Intel Pentium 1993 3100000 66 MHz 0.8 μ
Intel Pentium Pro 1995 5500000 200 MHz 0.6 μ
Intel Pentium II, Xeon 1997 7500000 300 MHz 0.25 μ
Intel Pentium III, Xeon 1999 9500000 500 MHz 0.18 μ
Intel Pentium IV, Xeon 2000 42000000 1.5 GHz 0.18 μ
Intel Pentium M 2002 55000000 1.7 GHz 90 nm
Intel Itanium 2 2002 220000000 1 GHz 0.13 μ
Intel Pentium D 2005 291000000 3.2 GHz 65 nm
Intel Core Duo, Xeon, Extreme 2006 291000000 2.93 GHz 65 nm
Intel Core Itanium 2006 1720000000 1.66 GHz 90 nm
Intel Quad-Core Xean 9000 Series 2006 5820000000 2.66 GHz 65 nm
Intel Dual Core 2006 8200000000 > 3 GHz 45 nm

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

INTEL PROCESSOR TEMPERATURE

Recently, Industries produce their processor/high end electronic devices with a separate
nomenclature to bring out the thermal aspects. For instance the AMD64 processor, in
which a character ‘P’ denotes the thermal aspects in terms of maximum allowable chip
casing temperature.

Case Temperature

Also, the clock speed is directly proportional to the heat flux generated in a chip. Inspite
of increased clock speed at a reduced area, still maintaining a temperature close to 70 –
80oC is a challenging task

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

POWER CONSUMPTION OF VARIOUS PROCESSORS UNDER WINDOWS

Computer processors are also rated

by means of idle and standard testing
condition. For instance ‘AIDA64 Load’
and ‘PRIME95 Load’ are standard
system loading, diagnostics and
benchmarking solution for Windows
PC. The performance of two
processors can be compared by the
‘W’ under Idle and Maximum
condition as shown here. Lower the
Watts better the performance. Higher
the Watts involved, higher the
temperatures involved and better the
cooling systems has to be. Please see
the figure and same compare
processor under idle and Max
condition. For ex IntelX5000 is around
49 W under Idle and 247 W under Max
condition.

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

CLASSIFICATION OF COOLING DEVICES UNDER THE RANGE OF HEAT FLUX

(WE ALWAYS USE W/cm2)

1. A simple microchip hardly 2 W/cm2

2. A typical Pentium 3.20E is designed for 103 W (Around 50 W/cm2) with a
maximum case temperature to be 73oC and air temperature to be 38oC.
3. X-ray tube – Can exceed 1000 W/cm2.
4. Klystron tubes - amplifiers at microwave and radio frequencies - 2000 W/cm2 -
one-third of the heat flux on the sun’s surface.
5. High heat flux devices - (102 to 103 W/cm2) – supercomputers, power devices,
electric vehicles, avionics.
6. Ultra high heat flux devices (103 to 105 W/cm2) - multimegawatt continuous-wave
magnetrons, short-pulse lasers, radars, synchrotron sources

MAJOR CAUSES OF FAILURES:

The major modes of EXAMPLE : BIPOLAR DIGITAL DEVICES

YEH AND CHU, 2002
electronic component Failure factor fT
failures are failure rate at T
=
Temperature Dust, failure rate at 75 o C
FAILURE FACTOR fT

Vibration and
humidity and
predominant reason
is temperature as
shown below. The
75 TEMPERATURE C
o O

failure rate increase

POSSIBLE FAILURES
when the • DIFFUSION IN SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
temperature • CHEMICAL REACTIONS
• CREEP IN THE BONDING MATERIALS
increase. For • THERMAL STRESSES
• MATERIAL FATIGUE
instance, for a typical
Bi-polar device as shown here the Allowable casing temperature is 75oC, above which the
failure is exponential. A thumb rule is that in many electronic components the casing
temperature should not exceed 70 to 85oC range.

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

TYPES OF FAILURES

Soft failures

• There is material properties change, changing performance outside the specs –

components still works
• Examples - Resistors, capacitors, transistors
• Circuits returns to normal operation when temperature is lowered

Hard failures

• Failures are irreversible – circuit may/may not come back to original state
which depends on nature of hard failure
• Corrosion - Chemical reactions
▪ softening and/or vaporization of organic materials
▪ softening or melting of solders
• Intermetallic compound formation
▪ Formation of salts
• Cracking caused - different coefficient of thermal expansions
• Breakdown of materials
• Mechanical failures
▪ thermal stress fracture of leads, joints, and seals
▪ fatigue-induced fracture
▪ creep-induced deformation of encapsulants, adhesives, and
laminates

COOLING TECHNIQUES

There are three primary techniques of transferring or dissipating heat from power and
other electronic devices: These are conduction, convection, and radiation

• q < 0.1 W/cm2 Natural convection

• q < 15 W/cm2 Forced convection, Pool boiling, Flow boiling
• q < 100 W/cm2 High performance cold plate
• q < 500 W/cm2 Water Jet
• q < 1000 W/cm2 liquid cooling – Immersion cooling

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

Images are taken from product websites

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

Some fundamentals in heat transfer : Recollect

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(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

PRINTED CIRCUITED BOARDS

• They are wired plane board : polymers and glass–epoxy materials

• Made of polymide matrix reinforced by several layers of woven glass
• They are not suitable for heavier components
• The power dissipated by a PCB : 5 W to 30 W
• Cooled by direct contact with a fluid
• The device-to-board edge thermal resistance of a PCB is usually high (about 20 to
60°C/W)
• The issue is low thermal conductivity of the board material
• In such cases, even a thin layer of copper cladding on one side of the board
(the term "copper pour" refers to an area on a printed circuit board filled
with copper)
• It can decrease the device-to-board edge thermal resistance in the
plane of the board
• It enhance heat transfer in that direction drastically

L PCB
Epoxy \
(tepoxy)
Thermal conductivity of copper cladded PCB
w Copper
(tcopper)
• • •
 T   T 
Q PCB = Q epoxy + Q copper =  kA  +  kA 
 L epoxy  L copper
T tPCB = tcopper + tEpoxy
= [(kA)epoxy + (kA)copper ] Q
L
W T
= [(kt )epoxy + (kt )copper ]
L

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

The effective thermal conductivity is

( kt )epoxy + ( kt )copper
keff = W / m. C
tepoxy + tcopper

wT T
Q = Keff (tepoxy + tcopper ) = keff APCB (W )
PCB L L
APCB = w(tepoxy + tcopper)

is the area normal to the direction of heat transfer

Problem

Heat is to be conducted along a PCB with copper cladding on one side. The PCB is 10 cm
long and 10 cm wide, and the thickness of the copper and epoxy layers are 0.04 mm and
0.16 mm, respectively, as shown in Figure. Disregarding heat transfer from side surfaces,
determine the percentages of heat conduction along the copper (k = 386 W/m · °C) and
epoxy (k = 0.26 W/m · °C) layers. Also, determine the effective thermal conductivity of the
PCB.

( kt )epoxy + ( kt )copper (15.44 + 0.04) X 10−3W / C

keff = = = 77.4 W / m C
tepoxy + tcopper (0.16 + 0.04) X 10−3m
(kt )copper = (386W / m. C)(0.04 X 10−3 m) = 15.44 10−3W / C

(kt )epoxy = (0.26W / m. C)(0.16 X 10−3 m) = 0.04 10−3W / C

(kt )PCB = (kt )copper + (kt )epoxy = (15.44 + 0.04) 10−3 m = 15.48 10−3W / C

( kt )epoxy 0.04 10−3W / C

f = = = 0.0026
(kt ) PCB 15.48 10−3W / C
0.26 percent of the thermal conduction along the PCB, which is negligible. Therefore, heat
conduction along the epoxy layer in this case can be disregarded without any reservations.

That is, the entire PCB can be treated as a 0.20-mm-thick single layer whose thermal
conductivity is 77.4 W/m • °C for heat transfer along its length.

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

COPPER FILLING CIRCUIT BOARDS

PCB

COPPER
FILLING

Copper filling/dots (or grid/solid fill) are used mainly to balance the thermal properties
(thermal conductivity of the board, to minimize twist and warp as the board goes through
the thermal cycling associated with reflow and improving yield. Also called as Copper
Thieving.

Problem
2.5 mm 1 mm
Consider the 10-cm X 15-cm glass–epoxy laminate (k =
0.26 W/m C) of thickness 0.8 mm. In order to reduce the
thermal resistance across its thickness from the current PCB

value of 0.21°C/W, cylindrical copper fillings (k = 386

W/m · °C) of 1-mm diameter are to be planted COPPER
throughout the board with a center-to-center distance FILLING

of 2.5 mm, as shown in Figure. Find the resistance of the

modified version

Heat flow → partly through the copper fillings and partly through the 1 1 1
epoxy in parallel paths. The thickness of both materials is the same and is
= +
Rbound Rcopper Repoxy
given to be 0.8 mm

Areaoftheboard (100mm)(150mm)
n= = = 2400
Areaofonesquare (2.5mm)(2.5mm)

Then the surface areas of the copper fillings and the remaining epoxy layer become
 D 2 = (2400)  (1X 10 m) = 0.001885m2
−3 2

Acopper =  4
4
Atotal = ( Length)(Width) = (0.1m)(0.15m) = 0.015m2

Aepoxy = Atotal − Acopper = (0.15 − 0.001885)m2 = 0.013115m2

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(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

The thermal resistance of each material is

 L  0.8 X 10−3 m
Rcopper =   = = 0.0011 C / W
 kA copper (386W / m  C )(0.001885m2 )
 L  0.8 X 10−3 m
Repoxy =   = = 0.2346 C / W
 kA epoxy (0.26 W / m  C )(0.013115 m 2 )

Noting that these two resistances are in parallel, the equivalent thermal resistance of
the entire board is determined from

1 1 1 1 1
= + = +
Rbound Rcopper Repoxy 0.0011 0.2346

Rbound = 0.00109 C / W

Thermal contact resistance – important in electronics.

For this part of the lecture material, i have used, Heat Transfer – Y.Cengel
extensively. When a junction is formed by pressing two similar or dissimilar materials (say
a chip case and a metal heat sink) together, only a small fraction of the nominal surface
area is actually in contact because of the non-flatness and roughness of the contacting
surfaces. If a heat flux is imposed across the junction, the uniform flow of heat is generally
restricted to conduction through the contact spots. He limited number and size of the
contact spots results in an actual contact area which is significantly smaller than the
apparent contact area. This limited contact area causes a thermal resistance, the contact

• Rigdes gives mechanical contact – good for

conduction
• Valleys – thermal resistance called

Q = QGAP + QCOND
Practically represented as
Q = hC A TINTERFACE
TINTERFACE TINTERFACE
Q= =
1 Contact Resistance
hC A
ΔTINTERFACE = (T2a – T2b) is called
as temperature jump
hC is thermal contact conductance

resistance or thermal contact resistance.

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(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

To reduce this thermal resistance, the interface is filled with a thermal conducting epoxy.
Also a spring / screws on the heat sink is used to increase the pressure and tighten the air
gap. It is a direct function of material, manufacturing techniques, pressure given by an
external spring, operating temperature and roughness as tabulated below:

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(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

A Basic problem of interface resistance (Taken from Ref 1)

Four identical power transistors with aluminum casing are attached on one side of a 1-
cm-thick 20-cm* 20-cm square copper plate (k =386 W/m · °C) by screws that exert an
average pressure of 6 MPa. The base area of each transistor is 8cm2, and each transistor
is placed at the center of a (10-cm * 10-cm) quarter section of the plate. The interface
roughness is estimated to be about 1.5 μm. All transistors are covered by a thick Plexiglas
layer, which is a poor conductor of heat, and thus all the heat generated at the junction
of the transistor must be dissipated to the ambient at 20°C through the back surface of
the copper plate. The combined convection/radiation heat transfer coefficient at the back
surface can be taken to be 25 W/m2 · °C. If the case temperature of the transistor is not
to exceed 70°C, determine the maximum power each transistor can dissipate safely, and
the temperature jump at the case-plate interface. (Take contact conductance to be
42,000 W/m2 °C)

T = 20o C T = 70o C
1 L 1 Transistor base = 8cm2
ho A kA hC AC kCOPPER =386 W/m C
T2 T1
hC = 42,000 W/m2 C

1 1
RINTERFACE = = = 0.030 oC / W
hC AC 42000*8 10 −4
L 0.01
RPLATE = = = 0.0026 oC / W
kA 386*0.01

Copper 1 1
RCONV = = = 4.0 oC / W
interface ho A 25*0.01
Transistor RTOTAL =  R = 4.0326 o
C /W
Note that the thermal resistance of a copper plate is very small and can be
ignored altogether. Then the rate of heat transfer is determined to be
hO = 25 W/m 2 C
T = 20o C T 70 − 20
Q= = = 12.4 W
RTOTAL 4.0326
Therefore, the power transistor should not be operated at power
levels greater than 12.4 W if the case temperature is not to
exceed 70°C. The temperature jump at the interface is determined from
T2 T1 T = 70o C
TINTERFACE = Q RINTERFACE = (12.4) *(0.030) = 0.37 o C

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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

LID
AIR GAP BOND WIRES CASE

CHIP
BOND

LEAD FRAME LEADS

Bond wire does not generate heat :

no resistance to flow of electrons
→no heat flow

The conduction analysis of an electronic device

Junction
starts with the circuitry or junction of a chip, which
RConstriction
is the site of heat generation. In order to understand
the heat transfer mechanisms at the chip level,
RChip
consider the DIP (dual in-line package) type chip
carrier shown. The heat generated at the junction Rbond
spreads throughout the chip and is conducted across
the thickness of the chip. The spread of heat from Rlead frame
the junction to the body of the chip is three-
dimensional in nature, but can be approximated as Rplastic
one-dimensional by adding a constriction thermal
resistance to the thermal resistance network. For a
small heat generation area of diameter d on a Rleg
considerably larger body, the constriction resistance
can be taken from the databook. The chip is attached to the lead frame with a highly
conductive bonding material that provides a low-resistance path for heat flow from the
chip to the lead frame. There is no metal connection between the lead frame and
the leads, since this would short- circuit the entire chip. Therefore, heat flow from

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(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

the lead frame to the leads is through the dielectric case material such as plastic or
ceramic. Heat is then transported outside the electronic device through the leads.
When solving a heat transfer problem, it is often necessary to make some simplifying
assumptions regarding the primary heat flow path and the magnitudes of heat transfer
in other directions. In the chip carrier discussed above, for example, heat transfer
through the top is disregarded since it is very small because of the large thermal
resistance of the stagnant air space between the chip and the lid. Heat transfer from
the base of the electronic device is also considered to be negligible because of the low
thermal conductivity of the case material and the lack of effective convection on the base
surface.

Problem (Taken from Ref 1)

A chip is dissipating 0.6 W of power in a DIP with 12 pin leads. The materials and the
dimensions of various sections of this electronic device are as given in the table. If the
temperature of the leads is 40°C, estimate the temperature at the junction of the chip.
Junction

RConstriction

RChip

Rbond

Rlead frame

Rplastic

Soln: Rleg

Assume : Bond wire does not generate heat – no resistance to flow of electrons – no heat.
They are made up Silver and they do not have electrical resistance and thus no joule
heating

 L 0.4 X 10−3 m
Rchip =  = −6
= 0.37 C / W
 kA chip (120W / m. C )(9 X 10 m )
2

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 L  0.03 X 10−3 m
Rbond =  = −6
= 0.01 C / W
 KA bond (296W / m. C )(9 X 10 m )
2

 L  0.25 X 10−3
Rleadframe =  = −6
= 0.07 C / W
 KA leadframe (386W / m. C )(9 X 10 m )
2

 L  0.2 X 10−3 m
Rplastic =   = −6
= 66.67 C / W
 KA  plastic (1W / m. C )(12 X 0.25 X 10 m )
2

 L  5 X 10−3 m
Rleads =  = −6
= 4.32 C / W
 kA leads (386W / m  C )(12 X 0.25 X 10 m )
2

1 1
Rconstriction = = = 5.88 C / W
2dk  2  (0.4 X 10 m)(120W / m. C )
−3

Rtotal = R junction −lead

= Rconstriction + Rchip + Rbond + Rleadframe + R plastic + Rleads

= (5.88 + 0.37 + 0.01 + 0.07 + 66.67 + 4.32) C / W

= 77.32 C / W
Heat transfer through the chip can be expressed as

•
T  T junction − Tleads
Q =  
R  junction−leads
=
R junction−leads

Solving for T junction

•
T junction = Tleads + Q R junction −leads

= 40 C + (0.6W )(77.32 C / W ) = 86.4 C

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(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

HEAT FRAMES (Images taken using search engines and the text is taken from Ref. -1)

Temperature distribution

Heat flow path

Cold plate Heat frame Epoxy
PCB
Adhesive

Reference - 1

In applications where direct cooling of circuit boards by passing air or a dielectric

liquid over the electronic components is not allowed, and the junction temperatures
are to be maintained relatively low to meet strict safety requirements, a thick heat
frame is used instead of a thin layer of copper cladding. This is especially the case
for multilayer PCBs that are packed with high power output chips.

The schematic of a PCB that is conduction-cooled via a heat frame is shown in Figure.
Heat generated in the chips is conducted through the circuit board, through the epoxy
adhesive, to the center of the heat frame, along the heat frame, and to a heat sink or cold
plate, where heat is externally removed. The heat frame provides a low-resistance
path for the flow of heat from the circuit board to the heat sink. The thicker the
heat frame, the lower the thermal resistance, and thus the smaller the temperature
difference between the center and the ends of the heat frame. When the heat load is
evenly distributed on the PCB, there will be thermal symmetry about the centerline,
and the temperature distribution along the heat frame and the PCB will be parabolic in

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nature, with the chips in the middle of the PCB (farthest away from the edges)
operating at the highest temperatures and the chips near the edges operating at the
lowest temperatures. Also, when the PCB is cooled

When a heat frame is used, heat conduction in the epoxy layer of the PCB is through
its thickness instead of along its length. The epoxy layer in this case offers a much
smaller resistance to heat flow because of the short distance involved. This resistance
can be made even smaller by drilling holes in the epoxy and filling them with
copper, as shown in Figure. These copper fillings are usually 1 mm in diameter and
their centers are a few millimeters apart. Such highly conductive fillings provide easy
passageways for heat from one side of the PCB to the other and result in considerable
reduction in the thermal resistance of the board along its thickness.

Problem (Ref-1)

A 10-cm x 12-cm circuit board dissipating 24 W of heat is to be conduction cooled by a

1.2-mm-thick copper heat frame (k = 386 W/m · °C) 10 cm X 14 cm in size. The epoxy
laminate (k = 0.26 W/m · °C) has a thickness of 0.8 mm and is attached to the heat frame
with conductive epoxy adhesive (k = 1.8 W/m · °C) of 0.13-mm thickness, as shown in
Figure. The PCB is attached to a heat sink by clamping a 5-mm-wide portion of the edge
to the heat sink from both ends. The temperature of the heat frame at this point is 20°C.
Heat is uniformly generated on the PCB at a rate of 2 W per 1-cm x 10-cm strip.
Considering only one-half of the PCB board because of symmetry, determine the
maximum temperature on the PCB and the temperature distribution along the heat
frame.
Temperature distribution

Cold plate Heat frame Epoxy

PCB
Adhesive

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Soln:

ASSUMPTION

• PCB Dimension : 10-cm x 12-cm → Take only half → 10 x 6 cm

• Total Heat : 24 W → Take only half → 12 W
• Heat Frame : 10-cm x 12-cm → Take only half → 10 x 7 cm

 L  0.8 X 10−3 m
Repoxy =   = = 3.077 C / W
 kA epoxy (0.26W / m  C )(0.01mX 0.1m)

 L 
Radhesive =   0.13 X 10−3 m
 kA adhesive = = 0.072 C / W
(1.8W / m  C )(0.01mX 0.1m)
 L  0.6 X 10−3 m
Rcopper ⊥ =   = = 0.002 C / W
 kA copper ,− (386W / m  C )(0.01mX 0.1m)

 L  0.01m
R frame = Rcopper =   = = 0.216 C / W
 kA copper , (386W / m  C )(0.0012mX 0.1m)

i d i c Rvertical = Repoxy + Radhesive + Rcopper ,⊥

= 3.151 C/W
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 Thermal Management in Electronic Systems
(Class notes and lecture material- compiled from various sources) by Dr.B.Raja

T = Thigh − Tlow = Q R
The temperature at the location where the heat frame is clamped to the heat sink is
given as 20oC. Noting that the entire 12 W of heat generated on the right half of the
PCB must pass through the last thermal resistance adjacent to the heat sink, the
temperature T1 can be determined from

T1 = T0 + Q1−0 R1−0 = 20 C + (12W )(0.216 C / W ) = 22.59 C

T2 = T1 + Q 2−1 R2−1 = 22.59 C + (10W )(0.216 C / W ) = 24.75 C

T3 = T2 + Q3−2 R3−2 = 24.75 C + (8W )(0.216 C / W ) = 26.48 C

T4 = T3 + Q 4−3 R4−3 = 26.48 C + (6W )(0.216 C / W ) = 27.78 C

T5 = T4 + Q5−4 R5−4 = 27.48 C + (4W )(0.216 C / W ) = 28.64 C

T6 = T5 + Q6−5 R6−5 = 28.64 C + (2W )(0.216 C / W ) = 29.07 C

T7 = T6 + Qvertical
= 29.07 C + (2W )(3.151 C / W ) = 35.37 C

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