This course provides a comprehensive introduction to thermal management in electronic systems, emphasizing the principles, technologies, and design strategies used to dissipate heat and maintain reliable device performance. Students explore fundamental heat transfer mechanisms, including conduction and convection, along with thermal resistance networks, thermal interface materials, and coolant selection. The course examines how these principles are applied to the design and evaluation of cooling solutions, including air-cooled heat sinks, liquid cold plates, microchannels, jet impingement, and passive cooling technologies.
Building on these fundamentals, students investigate advanced thermal management approaches, including two-phase cooling, transient thermal management, embedded cooling, and data center cooling systems. Particular attention is given to the increasing thermal challenges associated with high-power electronics and heterogeneous integration, where effective heat removal is essential to device performance, reliability, and energy efficiency.
The course also introduces thermal modeling, simulation, machine learning, and multi-objective optimization as tools for evaluating and improving cooling system designs. Through engineering calculations, practical examples, and case studies, students gain an understanding of how thermal management solutions are developed and optimized across multiple scales, from individual semiconductor chips and packages to servers and data center facilities.
This course includes 16 lectures divided by topic into 5 modules. Each module concludes with a brief assessment.
Format: Online, asynchronous
Platform: Canvas via nanoHUB
Estimated Time: 16 hours
Level: Advanced Undergraduate/Graduate Student
Prerequisites: Foundation in thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and engineering mathematics
Instructor: Professor Srikanth Rangarajan, Binghamton University
Course Objectives
Develop a strong understanding of the basic principles of thermal management, including heat transfer mechanisms: conduction, convection, and radiation.
Analyze real-world case studies in electronics cooling and packaging to understand industry practices
Explore sustainable practices in thermal management, emphasizing energy efficiency.
To introduce students to tools such as machine learning, modeling, analysis and optimization to approach existing packaging and cooling applications.
Request Course Enrollment
To enroll in this course, complete the course registration form. The SCALE team will review your request and arrange enrollment in the Canvas course on nanoHUB.