Electronics, Next Generation: Cooling of

Abstract

High-density integration, technology compaction, and compounding functionality of electronics devices have led to ever-increasing power and heat densities. This trend has made the task of thermal management more difficult, causing it to become one of the primary concerns of manufacturers of electronic systems. Deficient thermal management strategies can cause the temperature to rise in these devices, which in turn can negatively affect system performance. In particular, excess temperatures can lead to electrical parameter drifting, reduced reliability, materials deterioration, power leakage, and performance degradation. The difficulty of thermal management can also be exacerbated by environmental constraints; many electronic systems are required to operate under harsh environments, such as those found in defense, aerospace, oil exploration, and automotive industries. At present, the current trend of power density growth has become a serious impediment to technological progress for electronic devices and is threatening to become a technological bottleneck. Heat flux levels in excess of 100 W/cm2 for commercial electronics, and over 1000 W/cm2 for selected military high-power electronics, have now become a real and immediate challenge to overcome. Thermal design, instead of being considered an afterthought, is now becoming an integral part of the design process at all levels. Over the years, different techniques have been developed to fulfill the electronic cooling requirements. In this entry, an overview of the current status and historical development of electronic cooling concept is presented and many thermal management techniques and cooling methods are reviewed. Emphasis is given to those techniques applicable to high flux cooling.