Heat Transfer Augmentation in a Semiconductor Device

With circuit densities continuing to increase at the rate of 30% per year, the problem associated with the thermal control of electronic devices will continue to multiply. Thermal control of electronic components has one principal objective to maintain relatively constant component temperature equal to or below the specified temperature. For the heat fluxes 1.0 to 10.0 W/cm2, forced air convection may be employed. Investigations have demonstrated that a component operating 10 C above the specified temperature can reduce the reliability of some systems by as much as 50%. New techniques that are capable of eliminating hot spots in the printed circuit boards with semiconductor chips must be developed. From reliability point of view, the peak temperatures are limited to lower values than in the past. These concerns have generated motivation for research study of forced convection cooling in electronic equipments with printed circuit boards. The flow in these channels is usually low due to small dimensions and so, a number of innovative techniques are imperative to achieve higher heat transfer.