Method and apparatus for efficient conduction cooling of surface-mounted integrated circuits

Claim 2

Apparatus for efficient conduction cooling of surface-mounted integrated circuits comprising: electronics; a heat sink; means defining at least one thermally conductive compressible button contact thermally coupling said electronics to said heat sink, said contact comprising randomly wound filaments having resilience memory; and a support for supporting said thermally conductive button contact means between said heat sink and said electronics.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said button contact comprises a beam-like pillar.

Claim 4

Apparatus according to claim 2 in which said electronics include electronic components having surfaces positioned at different heights and said heat sink has at least one generally level surface to provide disparate distances between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces, and further including a plurality of said thermally conductive buttons disposed between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces and compressible therebetween to enable thermal contact between said disparately distant surfaces.

Claim 5

Apparatus for efficient conduction cooling of surface-mounted integrated circuits comprising: electronics including electronic components having surfaces positioned at different heights; a heat sink having at least one generally level surface to provide disparate distances between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces; a plurality of thermally conductive buttons disposed between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces and compressible therebetween to enable thermal contact between said disparately distant surfaces for thermally coupling said electronics to said heat sink, each of said contact buttons comprising a beam-like pillar of randomly wound filaments having resilience memory; and a support for supporting said plurality of said thermally conductive buttons between said heat sink and said electronic components.

Claim 6

Apparatus for efficient conduction cooling of surface-mounted integrated circuits comprising: electronics including electronic components having surfaces positioned at different heights; a heat sink having at least one generally level surface to provide disparate distances between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces; a plurality of thermally conductive buttons disposed between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces and compressible therebetween to enable thermal contact between said disparately distant surfaces for thermally coupling said electronics to said heat sink, each of said contact buttons comprising a beam-like pillar of randomly wound filaments having resilience memory; and a support for supporting said plurality of said thermally conductive buttons between said heat sink and said electronic components.

Claim 7

Apparatus according to claim 4 in which said electronic components comprise: a printed wiring board; a heat producing die terminating at one of said component surfaces; and a ball grid array package terminating at a second of said component surfaces and coupling said die to said printed wiring board.

Claim 8

Apparatus according to claim 5 in which said support includes a first portion for supporting said thermally conductive buttons coupled to said ball grid array package and a second portion for supporting said thermally conductive buttons coupled to said heat producing die, said second portion having a recess for accommodating said heat producing die.

Claim 9

Apparatus according to claim 6 further comprising a spacer disposed between said heat sink and said printed wiring board for limiting compression of said compressible button contacts.

Claim 10

Apparatus according to claim 5 in which said heat sink is provided with recessed portions for reception and support of said thermally conductive buttons.

Claim 11

Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said heat sink is provided with a recess and said button contact comprises a beam-like pillar having long and short axes, said button contact being laid along its longer axis within the recess.

Claim 12

Apparatus for efficient conduction cooling of surface-mounted integrated circuits comprising: electronic components having surfaces positioned at different heights; a heat sink having at least one generally level surface to provide disparate distances between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces; a plurality of thermally conductive compressible button contacts comprising randomly wound filaments having resilience memory disposed between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces and compressible therebetween to enable thermal coupling between said disparately distant surfaces and thus to thermally couple said electronic components to said heat sink; and a support for supporting said plurality of said thermally conductive button contacts between said heat sink and said electronic components.

Claim 13

Apparatus for efficient conduction cooling of surface-mounted integrated circuits comprising: electronic components having surfaces positioned at different heights; a heat sink having at least one generally level surface to provide disparate distances between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces; a plurality of thermally conductive compressible button contacts comprising randomly wound filaments having resilience memory disposed between said heat sink and said electronic component surfaces and compressible therebetween to enable thermal coupling between said disparately distant surfaces and thus to thermally couple said electronic components to said heat sink; and a support for supporting said plurality of said thermally conductive button contacts between said heat sink and said electronic components.

Claim 16

A method according to claim 11 in which the heat sink has at least one generally level surface and the electronics include electronic components having surfaces positioned at different heights with respect to the heat sink surface to provide disparate distances between the heat sink and the electronic component surfaces, further including the steps of: utilizing a plurality of differently sized thermally conductive button means; pairing the differently sized thermally conductive button means with the electronic components consistent with the disparate distances; and disposing the differently sized thermally conductive button means between the heat sink and the paired electronic component surfaces to equalize the different heights and to facilitate thermal contact between all of the disparately distant surfaces and the heat sink.