Transient Thermal Management Comparison of a Microprocessor Using PCMs in Various Configurations

There has been a strong interest in the use of Phase Change Materials （PCMs） for the transient thermal abatement of high powered microprocessor. This paper presents a set of transient computational analysis for selected IC packages with the purpose of calibrating the merits of PCM in different configurations. The transient analysis of high powered microprocessors with heat sinks was performed as a benchmark for comparison with the same mi- croprocessors fitted with PCM in the following configurations： a） PCM imbedded into the finned region of the heat sink, b） PCM mounted between the microprocessor and heat sink, c） sealed PCM underfill to the microproc- essor and d） PCM fitted to the underside of the printed circuit board directly beneath the microprocessor. The analysis was performed using a commercial CFD tool together with an approximation to the phase change mechanism using the slope method. Results indicate the merit of each configuration.