Choosing an MCM Technology for Thermal Performance

It is widely known that thermal management is critical to the success of multichip module (MCM) packaging because of the density and performance of typical MCMs, but the thermal aspects of different MCM technologies are less well understood. Simplistic analysis can be misleading when, for example, the trade-offs in size, cost, and electrical performance needed to meet thermal requirements are ignored. In addition, certain subtleties of thermal performance and analysis can invalidate the first-order evaluations that often guide design decisions. This work attempts to clarify the situation by evaluating the thermal characteristics of various MCM technologies with finite element modeling techniques. This work also addresses the problem by examining some of the less intuitive aspects of MCM thermal analysis. A summary of issues to consider when evaluating thermal performance of MCM technologies is presented.