Investigating the impacts of heat sink design parameters on heat dissipation performance of semiconductor packages

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of various heat sink design parameters on the thermal dissipation performance of semiconductor packages using a heat sink as the thermal solution. A multiphase finite volume model was developed for heat transfer simulations to determine the heat sink and junction temperatures of the semiconductor assembly. Additionally, a heat transfer experiment was conducted to measure these temperatures over time. The numerical predictions closely matched the experimental results, with a maximum disparity of 0.26 % for junction temperature and 0.42 % for heat sink temperature, confirming the reliability of the numerical model. The results revealed that pin fin heat sinks demonstrated marginally superior thermal performance, reducing the junction temperature by 0.05 % compared to parallel heat sinks. Increasing the base area from 20x20 $\text{mm}²$ to 50x50 $\text{mm}²$ resulted in a significant 31.64 % reduction in junction temperature and a corresponding reduction in heat sink temperature from 60.41 °C to 36.42 °C. Extending fin height from 10 mm to 50 mm led to an 18.73 % decrease in junction temperature and a reduction in heat sink temperature from 46.07 °C to 34.56 °C. Enhancing the base thickness from 2 mm to 15 mm achieved a 24.35 % reduction in junction temperature and a decrease in heat sink temperature from 63.2 °C to 44.05 °C. The study concludes that optimizing these design parameters can substantially enhance heat dissipation, improving the reliability and efficiency of semiconductor devices.