Challenges in thermal modeling of electronics at the system level: summaryof panel held at the Therminic 2000

The rapidly shrinking times-to-market for modem electronic products are req uiring high fidelity system level thermal simulations. Electronic products are characterized by diverse length scales of interest, multiple coupled mo des of thermal transport, and presence of multiple flow regimes. Numerous m aterials and interfaces are utilized in these systems, often displaying hig hly anisotropic behavior. Thermal management devices such as fans and heat sinks also result in unique challenges in system level thermal modeling. Wh ile a number of advances in computational modeling have been made in the pa st decade, key challenges remain before systems level simulations can be co nsidered truly predictive and can be performed in reasonable time. At the T herminic 2000, a panel was held to identify the key challenges facing the t hermal community in the area of system level simulations. Participants from industry and academia focused on gaps in the state-of-the-art in system le vel thermal/fluidic modeling, and possible ways of addressing these. (C) 20 01 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.