Heat pipe heat sink assembly for cooling semiconductor chips

Abstract

An apparatus and method are disclosed to provide heat pipe cooling for semiconductor chips mounted on a module. Each chip is provided its own heat pipe for cooling. A piston on the end of each heat pipe is loaded against each chip with a predetermined force without the need for counting turns of a screw or use of torque measurement tools. Each heat pipe draws heat away from the chip it is loaded against, carrying the heat to a heat sink for dissipation into the ambient. A large multichip module can be loaded against a land grid array interposer with uniform loading of the interposer. This interposer loading is accomplished independently of the loading of the heat pipes against the chips.