Thermal management refers to the control of heat in electronics circuits. Heat is an unavoidable by-product of every electronic device and circuitry and is usually detrimental to performance and reliability. The trend in packaging electronic systems has been to reduce size and increase performance, both of which contribute to heat generation and concentration. Higher levels of integrated functions in a smaller package has resulted in higher heat densities, thus giving rise to the importance of thermal management in maintaining system performance and reliability.

This course introduces the basic heat transfer fundamentals and some typical failure modes associated with different packaging levels. Various thermal cooling solutions will also be introduced and discussed based on their benefits and disadvantages. In the second portion, there will be a hands-on learning session on how to conduct heat transfer analysis using a commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software. FEA will allow the understanding of the heat flow paths in the package as well as the prediction of component temperatures. It further allows the virtual design and assessment of the cooling solutions before prototyping, which drastically reduces the design cycle time to production.