Air injection and convection cooling of multi-chip modules: a computational study

In the personal computer and workstation industry, new power-hungry, high-performance microprocessors have been gaining ground. Some proposed commercial heat dissipation schemes use fan-mounted heat sinks to ensure that the chip junction temperature meets technology requirements for reliable performance. This study uses a numerical simulation to predict heat transfer rates for cooling of a typical multi-chip package. Two cooling schemes are evaluated. The first uses a pin-fin heat sink mounted on the package with air forced over the sink. The second scheme uses a fan mounted directly over the heat-sink injecting air on the sink. Increases in heat transfer rates of the injection case compared to standard forced cooling schemes are tabulated. A qualitative description of the flow features is given, along with limitations of the flow computations