Method and apparatus for attaching a heat sink and a fan to an intergrated circuit package

An improved attachment method for attaching an heat sink to a integrated circuit package, which includes an heat spreader with a dove-tail feature attached to an upper surface of the integrated circuit package. The bottom surface of the heat sink has a dove-tail feature that matingly corresponds to the dove-tail feature of the heat spreader, such that the heat sink can be slide onto the heat spreader. The heat sink is prevented from sliding off of the heat spreader by a clip. A fan may be attached to the top surface of the heat sink using a clip that attaches to an outer edge of the heat sink or by making the outer two fins on the heat sink slightly taller than the fan with an inward dove-tail so that the fan can slide snugly between the top of the inner fins and the dove-tails of the outer two fins.