Accurate Modeling of Forced Convection Cooling for Microelectronic Packages: Numerical and Experimental Thermal Studies

A bidirectional solid/fluid coupling methodology developed for natural convection [1], [2] has been applied to the case of forced convection. The two-way coupling methodology is compared when using CFD and empirical formulas to determine the heat transfer coefficient at the solid/fluid interface. The numerical results are validated by experimental measurements made according to JESD51-6 standards. The experimental tests employed for the validation are carried out with a wind tunnel which complies with JEDEC standards. The results of the numerical simulations using CFD are in agreement with the experimental measurements of the junction temperature for a range of speeds between 0.5m/s and 4.5m/s and a power of 15W, while the empirical formulas lead to higher errors.