Design of Heat Sinks

Mechanical Engineering Department

Millions of Ants Can a Kill an Anaconda .

Semiconductor Heat Sinks

Thermal Physics of Semiconductor Heat Sinks (SHS) is an
interesting and urgent topics of semiconductor devices cooling.
While in the long ago passed years of easy-happy
Semiconductor Heat Sinks solutions.
Those were practically of the single uniform design as, for
example, this one for the 486X chipset from the early 90s.
The continuous more and more stiff and demanding interest in
the heat to be evacuated from the electronic devices, more
effectively, brought up the newer styles for SHS.
Specially designed forced convection along the short fins or
Guided directed air flux down the longitudinal fins

1990s 486 Chip Heat Sink

Optimum Array of Optimum Fins : Natural Convection

Heat flow from each optimum fin:

q
1.258 b (h 2 A p k) 0.333
L
With the h for Optimum Spacing:

h opt 1.25

kg
S

With the Interfin Spacing

Sopt 2.99P

LvTw
P

g w

14

Selection Curves

Intel Pentium 4 Processor

Pentium 4 burns some 55 W and therefore it needs some good cooling

devices.
Active cooling surfaces.
Force the air past the fins.

Forced Convection with Short Fins

Guided air flux down the longitudinal fins

Combined two kinds of the pin fins

Geometrical & Thermal Design Constraints

In forced convection, the critical parameters for heat sink design include
local upstream air temperature (Ta) and velocity (V)
The airflow duct cross-sectional area (Wduct, Hduct) play an important role
in heat sink design.

 The most important factor for the airflow available is the

maximum volume the heat sink can occupy.
Wmax, Lmax, and Hmax
The design must accommodate the component
specifications, such as the power dissipated (P) and the
maximum junction temperature (Tjmax).
The maximum heat sink weight, also play a role in the
design.
Another important factor during the design phase is the
maximum allowable cost of the thermal solution

Types of Heat Sinks

Thermal conductivity and cooling surface area must always be weighed
against material and manufacturing costs.
Most heat sinks are made from aluminum, because of its low thermal
resistance, light weight, and low cost.
Copper is also used for heat sinks; although lower in thermal resistance than
aluminum, its cost and greater weight make it less desirable for many
applications.
Stamped heat sinks : made from a single sheet of metal, which is cut and bent
to give the desired thermal properties.
Extruded heat sinks : are very cost effective and provide good thermal
performance.
Many basic shapes can be provided off-the-shelf.
Heat Sink Castings : provide a cost-effective solution for high-volume, stable
applications.
Bonded-fin heat sinks : are made by bonding fins, fabricated from sheet
metal or through extrusion, to an extruded base.
This process increases the surface area over a similar extruded piece,
reducing the thermal resistance by A 1/2to 2/3.

 Folded-fin Heat Sinks : are bonded-fin assemblies with

complex fin shapes.
By folding the fins over themselves, these assemblies
provide a large surface area in a confined space.