ELECTRONICS.CA PUBLICATIONS announces the availability of a new report entitled “Electronic Thermal Management – Technologies, Materials, Devices, New Developments, Industry Structure and Global Markets”. According to this study, the worldwide market for thermal management products is predicted to grow from about $8.8 billion in 2013 to $15.56 billion by 2018, at an average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.1%.
“Thermal management” denotes the array of problem-solving design tools and material technologies that systems manufacturers apply to regulate the unwanted heat caused by the normal functioning of an electronic system. Increasing power densities and decreasing transistor dimensions are hallmarks of modern computer chips. Both trends are increasing the thermal management challenge within the chip and surrounding packaging, as well as accelerating research progress on high conductivity materials.
Dramatic changes are underway in the computer, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries. There is a trend toward systems “convergence,” combining computer, telecommunications and consumer system functions all into one system. There is also a trend toward micro-miniaturization and microsystem technologies integrating digital, optical, radio frequency and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices. Microsystem packaging is at the heart of all of these products, since it is this technology that provides the system integration in addition to controlling the size, performance, reliability and cost of the final microsystem.
High-density packaging has been the trend in electronic circuits during the last decade, and that will continue for at least the next five years. In 2013, a typical megaprocessor could pack a staggering 41 million transistors onto a single chip. Running flat out, that chip would dissipate 130 watts of heat – more than a bright household light bulb – from an area the size of a postage stamp.
The trend line of the thermal management industry aligns with the developments of technology in the semiconductor, microprocessor and computer industries. For every advance in performance of these systems, there is a corresponding increase in the operating heat generated by the system. To simply say, however, that demands for thermal management products have increased as the requirements of applications have increased, does not do justice to the unique character of this industry. It is probably more accurate to state that the development of thermal management as an industry is the result of a synergy of solutions constantly engineered to manage excess heat in today’s electronic systems.
Worldwide Market for Thermal Management Products to Reach $15.56 Billion by 2018
