SEPTEMBER 2020 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 25
caught between specifications, costs, design,
marketing, reliability, and feasibility.
Think of the heat right from the beginning
of development and communicate with inter-
nal and external development partners. Also,
question any kind of estimate. "We have
always done it this way" does not apply. Only
reasonable communication can lead to a rea-
sonable solution strategy.
It is impossible to predict when the ROI of a
simulation software will be reached. For some
users, this is already the case with the first
project; usually, it should be the case with 2–3
development projects per year.
Unfortunately, electronics cooling is rarely
offered as part of an electronics engineering
university curriculum. TRM software can also
be an educational tool. Even without import-
ing layout data, you can create, calculate, and
adjust a dummy with simple rectangles, circles
or digital drawings. That is why TRM is also a
prototyping and technology tool. You are free
to choose the geometry, the layer structure,
the materials, the thermal load by components
and currents, and the cooling.
Since time is money, you should also know
that the computing time, for example, with the
ISL board, is about four minutes on my lap-
top. The duration of the measurement in the
lab would be about 10
minutes until the steady-
state is reached. Simula-
tion can also be faster
than real-time.
DESIGN007
References
1. JEDEC.
2. Edwards, D., & Nguyen.,
H., "Semiconductor and IC
Package Thermal Metrics,"
Texas Instruments Application
Report SPRA953C, December
2003, Revised April 2016.
3. Wong, V., "Datasheet
Intricacies: Absolute Maximum
Ratings and Thermal Resis-
tances," Analog Devices Tech-
nical Article MS-2251, 2011.
4. Eagle is a design software tool from Autodesk.
5. DesignSpark PCB is a design software from RS Com-
ponents Ltd.
6. Altium Designer is a design software tool from Altium.
7. Microchip Technology, "EVB-USB5806 Evaluation
Board."
8. Taranovich, S., "Unique Intersil thermal design
removes heat from encapsulated, compact 50A power
modules," 2015.
9. Renesas Electronics, "Dual 20A/Single 40A Step-
Down Power Module Evaluation Boards," 2017.
10. Allegro is a design software from Cadence Design
Systems.
11. Adam, J., & Jouppi, M., "Simulated and Experimental
Component Temperature on the IntersilTM ISL8240 Evalu-
ation Board," 2015.
12. Renesas Electronics, "Carrying the Heat Away from
Power Module PCB Designs," 2018.
13. TRM is a thermal simulation tool for PCB from ADAM
Research, adam-research.com.
Dr. Johannes Adam is the founder
of ADAM Research.
Figure 9: Thermography (left) and the simulation image of the top layer (right).
