Thermal and electro-thermal modeling of components and systems: A review of the research at the University of Parma

This paper reviews the activity carried out at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Parma, Italy, in the field of thermal and electro-thermal modeling of devices, device and package assemblies, circuits, and systems encompassing active boards and heat-sinking elements. This activity includes: (i) Finite-Element 3D simulation for the thermal analysis of a hierarchy of structures ranging from bare device dies to complex systems including active and passive devices, boards, metallizations, and air- and water-cooled heat-sinks, and (ii) Lumped-Element thermal or electro-thermal models of bare and packaged devices, ranging from purely empirical to strictly physics- and geometry-based.