Application Hint 17

Micrel

Application Hint 17
Designing P.C. Board Heat Sinks By Bob Wolbert

General Description
System designers increasingly face the restriction of using all surface-mounted components in their new designs; even including the power components. Through-hole components can dissipate excess heat with clip-on or bolt-on heat sinks keeping things cool. Surface mounted components do not have this flexibility and rely on the conductive traces or pads on the printed circuit board for heat transfer. This hint addresses the question How much PC board pad area does my design require? We will determine if a Micrel surface mount low dropout linear regulator may operate using only a PC board pad as its heat sink. We start with the circuit requirements.

This leads us to choose the 750mA MIC2937A-5.0BU voltage regulator, which has these characteristics: VOUT = 5V 2% (worst case over temperature) TJ MAX = 125C JC of the TO-263 = 3C/W CS 0C/W (soldered directly to board)

Preliminary Calculations
VOUT (MIN) = 5V 2% = 4.9V PD = (VIN (MAX) VOUT (MIN)) IOUT + (VIN (MAX) IGND) = [9V 4.9V] 700mA + (9V 15mA) = 3W Maximum temperature rise, T = TJ(MAX) TA = 125C 50C = 75C Thermal resistance requirement, JA (worst case): T = 75C = 25C/W PD 3.0W Heat sink thermal resistance, SA = JA (JC + CS) SA = 25 (3 + 0) = 22C/W (max)

System Requirements:
VOUT = 5.0V VIN (MAX) = 9.0V VIN (MIN) = 5.6V IOUT = 700mA Duty cycle = 100% TA = 50C

Heat sink physical size determination

PC Board Heat Sink Thermal Resistance vs. Area

PCB Heat Sink Thermal Resistance (C/W)

70 60 50 40 30

Figure 1 shows the total area of a round or square pad, centered on the device. The solid trace represents the area of a square, single sided, horizontal, solder masked, copper PC board trace heat sink, measured in square millimeters. No airflow is assumed. The dashed line shows a heat sink covered in black oil-based paint and with 1.3m/sec (250 feet per minute) airflow. This approaches a best case pad heat sink.

0.405 0.005 0.065 0.010 202 0.050 0.005

0.176 0.005 0.050 0.005

0.360 0.005

20 10
0.100 BSC 0.050

0.600 0.025 SEATING PLANE 0.004 +0.004 0.008

8 MAX 0.015 0.002

0.100 0.01

2000

4000

6000

DIM. = INCH

PCB Heat Sink Area (mm2)

Figure 1. Graph to determine PC board area for a given thermal resistance. See text for discussion of the two curves. 1997

Figure 2. The TO-263 U Package. Derived from the popular TO-220 power package, the TO-263 has excellent thermal properties for a surface mount package.

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Application Hint 17
Conservative design dictates using the solid trace data, which indicates a pad size of 5000 mm2 is needed. This is a pad 71mm by 71mm (2.8 inches per side).

Micrel
smaller than the SO-8, but its three terminals are designed for much better thermal flow. Choosing the MIC5201-3.3BS, we get these characteristics: TJ MAX = 125C JC of the SOT-223 = 15C/W CS = 0 C/W (soldered directly to board)

Example 2, SO-8 and SOT-223 package.

Given the following requirements, determine the safe heat sink pad area. VOUT = 5.0V VIN (MAX) = 14V VIN (MIN) = 5.6V IOUT = 150mA Duty cycle = 100% TA = 50C Your board production facility prefers handling the dual-inline SO-8 packages whenever possible. Is the SO-8 up to this task? Choosing the MIC2951-03BM, we get these characteristics: TJ MAX = 125C JC of the SO-8 100C/W

SOT-223 Calculations:
PD = [14V 4.9V] 150mA + (14V 1.5mA) = 1.4W Temperature rise = 125C 50C = 75C Thermal resistance requirement, JA (worst case): T = 75C = 54C/W PD 1.4W Heat sink SA = 54 15 = 39C/W (max)

Board Area
Referring to Figure 1, a pad of 1400mm2 (a square pad 1.5 inches per side) provides the required thermal characteristics.

SO-8 Calculations:
PD = [14V 5V] 150mA + (14V 8mA) = 1.46W Temperature rise = 125C 50C = 75C Thermal resistance requirement, JA (worst case): T = 75C = 51.3C/W PD 1.46W Heat sink SA = 51 100 = 49 C/W (max) Which obviously presents a problem: without refrigeration, the SO-8 is not suitable for this application. Consider the MIC5201-5.0BS in a SOT-223 package. This package is

Conclusion:
These formulae are provided as a general guide to thermal characteristics for surface mounted power components. Many estimations and generalizations were made; your system will vary. Please use this information as a rough approximation of board area required and fully evaluate the thermal properties of each board you design to confirm the validity of the equations.

0.026 (0.65) MAX)

3.15 (0.124) 2.90 (0.114)

PIN 1

C L

0.157 (3.99) 0.150 (3.81)

DIMENSIONS: INCHES (MM)

C L

3.71 (0.146) 7.49 (0.295) 3.30 (0.130) 6.71 (0.264)

0.050 (1.27) TYP

0.020 (0.51) 0.013 (0.33) 0.0098 (0.249) 0.0040 (0.102) 08 SEATING PLANE 45 0.010 (0.25) 0.007 (0.18)

2.41 (0.095) 2.21 (0.087) 4.7 (0.185) 4.5 (0.177) 6.70 (0.264) 6.30 (0.248)

1.04 (0.041) 0.85 (0.033) DIMENSIONS: MM (INCH) 1.70 (0.067) 16 1.52 (0.060) 10 10 MAX

0.064 (1.63) 0.045 (1.14)

0.197 (5.0) 0.189 (4.8)

0.050 (1.27) 0.016 (0.40) 0.244 (6.20) 0.228 (5.79)

0.10 (0.004) 0.02 (0.0008)

0.038 (0.015) 0.25 (0.010)

0.84 (0.033) 0.64 (0.025) 0.91 (0.036) MIN

Figure 2. SO-8 Package. The SO-8 is small and very popular, but is far from ideal thermally.

Figure 3. SOT-223 Package. Smaller than the popular SO-8, the SOT-223 has significantly better thermal characteristics. 1997

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