Bearing life: A future package cooling challenge

Over the past decade, as silicon technology has continued to scale in accordance with Moore's Law, thermal design for cooling microprocessor packages has become increasingly challenging. Due to die shrinkage and other complexities of the microprocessor design, there is a possibility of increased local power densities, commonly referred to as 'hot spots'. Thermal cooling solutions for package must ensure that the junction temperature of the processor does not exceed temperatures in 90° to 110°C range, typically at the hot spots, to ensure device performance and reliability. A majority of original equipment manufacturers within the microelectronics industry would like to further extend the application of air cooling technologies.