Thermal management of harsh-environment electronics

As the trend of highly integrated electronics and simultaneous miniaturization escalates to include faster processors, more functions, and higher bandwidths, electronics continue to become more compact in response to size limitations and strict reliability requirements. The result is an increasing heat flux at both the component and circuit board levels. In the last decade, average power densities and heat dissipation rates have increased nearly two-fold [1]. It is expected that heat flux levels in excess of 100W/cm(2) for commercial electronics and over 1000W/cm(2) for selected military high power electronics will soon become a realistic and immediate challenge to overcome. There is also a growing demand for more sophisticated and capable electronics used in harsh environment applications such as those found in defense, automotive and oil exploration systems. Thermal management of harsh environment electronics is vital to the successful design, manufacture, and tactical operation of a variety of electronic systems to meet the high temperature, environmental, reliability, and cost effectiveness requirements. This paper will look into fundamental characteristics and thermal management challenges for practical harsh environment electronics and will overview the most widely known, as well as emerging technology solutions for such applications. Future thermal management of harsh environment electronics at the chip, board and system levels will be also discussed. The paper concludes with a ranking of the potential applicability of these techniques according to several criteria, including cost, ease of use, thermal performance, and reliability concludes the paper.