Possible Athlon Heat reason?

[Guest]

Just thinking..

Since the die is Ceramic which is a rock... form
that holds heat a lot right?

Maybe thats why its hotter then others

Possible?

--call it what you wish, with this machine I can make mercury flow in 3 directions at once--

 

[Guest]

Ceramic is not a rock. A better term would be glass, but that's not quite right either.

My guess is that they use ceramic because it is generally an electrical insulator, and also ussually has good thermal conductivity.

Thermal conductivity is a critical characteristic for this kind of packaging. Doesn't matter how good a heatsink you have on top if the heat producing part of the chip cooks before the packaging can conduct that heat up to the heatsink.


In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.

 

[ejsmith2]

Ceramic has been used since the late 1940's in all kinds of electrical applications, expecially in industry. It's cheap to make, easy to form/mold, can be mixed with all kinds of dyes, and doesn't change it's properties after being exposed to emf for many years (unlike mica and paper/cellulose).

Glass actually conducts heat a little better, but when you're talking about the thousandths and millionths of a watt per meter-kelvin, it doesn't matter in most applications.

 

[peteb]

My understanding is that the die is polished silicon, not ceramic. On an Althlon processor the ceramic is the surround that the processor mounts on, bridges, pins etc.

Ceramic is a very good insulator, as you point out, and both silicon and ceramic are mineral. The principal involved is that the layer between the heat and the heatsink is as small as possible.

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