PCB Technical - Thermal considerations in PCB design

Thermal considerations in PCB design
In ordinary digital circuit design, we rarely consider the heat dissipation of integrated circuits, because the power consumption of low-speed chips is generally very small, and under normal natural heat dissipation conditions, the temperature rise of the chip will not be too large. With the continuous improvement of chip speed, the power consumption of a single chip has gradually increased. For example, the power consumption of Intel's Pentium CPU can reach 25W. When the natural conditions of heat dissipation can no longer control the temperature rise of the chip below the required index, it is necessary to use appropriate heat dissipation measures to accelerate the release of heat on the chip surface, and make the chip work within the normal temperature range.

Under normal conditions, the transfer of heat includes three ways: conduction, convection and radiation. Conduction refers to the transfer of heat between directly contacting objects from the higher temperature to the lower temperature. Convection transfers heat through the flow of fluid, while radiation does not require any media. The heating element directly releases heat to the surrounding space. .
In practical applications, there are two ways to dissipate heat, radiator and fan, or the use of both at the same time. The radiator conducts the heat of the chip to the radiator through close contact with the surface of the chip. The radiator is usually a good heat conductor with many blades. Its fully expanded surface greatly increases the heat radiation and at the same time circulates air. It can also take away more heat. The use of fans is also divided into two forms, one is directly installed on the surface of the radiator, and the other is installed on the chassis and rack to increase the air flow rate in the entire space. Similar to the most basic Ohm's law in circuit calculations, there is a most basic formula for heat dissipation calculations:
Temperature difference = thermal resistance * power consumption.
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