
MPC885/MPC880 PowerQUICC Hardware Specifications, Rev. 7
Freescale Semiconductor
13
Thermal Calculation and Measurement
7.2
Estimation with Junction-to-Case Thermal Resistance
Historically, thermal resistance has frequently been expressed as the sum of a junction-to-case thermal
resistance and a case-to-ambient thermal resistance:
RθJA = RθJC + RθCA
where:
RθJA = junction-to-ambient thermal resistance (C/W)
RθJC = junction-to-case thermal resistance (C/W)
RθCA = case-to-ambient thermal resistance (C/W)
RθJC is device-related and cannot be influenced by the user. The user adjusts the thermal environment to
affect the case-to-ambient thermal resistance, RθCA. For instance, the user can change the airflow around
the device, add a heat sink, change the mounting arrangement on the printed-circuit board, or change the
thermal dissipation on the printed-circuit board surrounding the device. This thermal model is most useful
for ceramic packages with heat sinks where some 90% of the heat flows through the case and the heat sink
to the ambient environment. For most packages, a better model is required.
7.3
Estimation with Junction-to-Board Thermal Resistance
A simple package thermal model that has demonstrated reasonable accuracy (about 20%) is a two-resistor
model consisting of a junction-to-board and a junction-to-case thermal resistance. The junction-to-case
covers the situation where a heat sink is used or where a substantial amount of heat is dissipated from the
top of the package. The junction-to-board thermal resistance describes the thermal performance when most
of the heat is conducted to the printed-circuit board. It has been observed that the thermal performance of
most plastic packages and especially PBGA packages is strongly dependent on the board temperature; see
Figure 4. Effect of Board Temperature Rise on Thermal Behavior