DELPHI: The Development of Libraries of Physical Models of Electronic Components for an Integrated Design Environment

The accurate prediction of operating temperatures of critical electronic parts at the component-, board- and system-level is seriously hampered by the lack of reliable, standardised input data. This paper describes a recently-started 3-year European collaborative project, named DELPHI, whose goal is to solve this problem. Some preliminary results are reported on the development of compact thermal models for mono-chip packages. It is the authors’ contention that a future redefinition of the standards is to be expected, is necessary and should include protocols for thermal models in addition to ones for measurements.In the first section of this paper a review is provided of the methods in use for the thermal characterization of component packages with especial emphasis on mono-chip packages. The second section describes the DELPHI project including a discussion of experimental requirements and the issue of international standardization. The third section explains the results of preliminary investigations on an idealized mono-chip package. The fourth section gives results for a real package, namely a 208-lead Plastic Quad Flat Pack. The final section provides conclusions and directions for future research. The paper finishes with acknowledgements, references and an appendix which contains results for the 208-lead PQFP modelling.Although DELPHI is concerned with a variety of electronic parts including mono-chip packages, heat sinks, thermal interface materials, etc, this paper focuses on the thermal characterization of mono-chip packages.