FDS8880 N-Channel PowerTrench® MOSFET
www.onsemi.com
8
Thermal Resistance vs. Mounting Pad Area
The maximum rated junction temperature, TJM, and the
thermal resistance of the heat dissipating path determines
the maximum allowable device power dissipation, PDM, in an
application. Therefore the application’s ambient
temperature, TA (oC), and thermal resistance RθJA (oC/W)
must be reviewed to ensure that TJM is never exceeded.
Equation 1 mathematically represents the relationship and
serves as the basis for establishing the rating of the part.
(EQ. 1)
PDM
TJM TA
–()
RθJA
-------------------------------=
In using surface mount devices such as the SO8 package,
the environment in which it is applied will have a significant
influence on the part’s current and maximum power
dissipation ratings. Precise determination of PDM is complex
and influenced by many factors:
1. Mounting pad area onto which the device is attached and
whether there is copper on one side or both sides of the
board.
2. The number of copper layers and the thickness of the
board.
3. The use of external heat sinks.
4. The use of thermal vias.
5. Air flow and board orientation.
6. For non steady state applications, the pulse width, the
duty cycle and the transient thermal response of the part,
the board and the environment they are in.
ON Semiconductor provides thermal information to assist
the designer’s preliminary application evaluation. Figure 21
defines the RθJA for the device as a function of the top
copper (compo-nent side) area. This is for a horizontally
positioned FR-4 board with 1oz copper after 1000 seconds
of steady state power with no air flow. This graph provides
the necessary in-formation for calculation of the steady
state junction temper-ature or power dissipation. Pulse
applications can be evaluated using the ON
Semiconductor device Spice thermal model or manually
utilizing the normalized maximum transient
thermal impedance curve.
Thermal resistances corresponding to other copper areas
can be obtained from Figure 21 or by calculation using
Equation 2. The area, in square inches is the top copper
area including the gate and source pads.
(EQ. 2)
RθJA 64 26
0.23 Area+
-------------------------------
+=
The transient thermal impedance (ZθJA) is also effected by
varied top copper board area. Figure 22 shows the effect of
copper pad area on single pulse transient thermal imped-
ance. Each trace represents a copper pad area in square
inches corresponding to the descending list in the graph.
Spice and SABER thermal models are provided for each of
the listed pad areas.
Copper pad area has no perceivable effect on transient
thermal impedance for pulse widths less than 100ms. For
pulse widths less than 100ms the transient thermal
impedance is determined by the die and package.
Therefore, CTHERM1 through CTHERM5 and RTHERM1
through RTHERM5 remain constant for each of the thermal
models. A listing of the model component values is available
in Table 1.
100
150
200
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
50
Figure 21. Thermal Resistance vs Mounting
Pad Area
RθJA = 64 + 26/(0.23+Area)
RθJA (oC/W)
AREA, TOP COPPER AREA (in2)
0
30
60
90
120
150
10-1 100101102103
Figure 22. Thermal Impedance vs Mounting Pad Area
t, RECTANGULAR PULSE DURATION (s)
ZθJA, THERMAL
COPPER BOARD AREA - DESCENDING ORDER
0.04 in2
0.28 in2
0.52 in2
0.76 in2
1.00 in2
IMPEDANCE (oC/W)