The increase in demand for high performance computing is resulting in the need for enhanced semiconductor performance, of which thermal management is a large component. IDTechEx's report, "Thermal Management for Advanced Semiconductor Packaging 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets, and Opportunities", covers some of the main materials and applications relevant to this growing technology sector, providing forecasts spanning the next decade.
The increasing need for semiconductor thermal management
AI-oriented CPUs and GPUs are seeing increased power density, providing a 'critical engineering bottleneck', as described by IDTechEx. As a result, thermal throttling, voltage droop and accelerated electromigration are highlighted as some of the key issues arising with this growing power density, which can create problems with performance, system reliability, and the lifespan of the silicon device. There are also increased energy requirements to dissipate heat with higher power densities, meaning costs of cooling methods and infrastructure grow simultaneously. Increasing computational demands and power densities from semiconductors are also creating challenges for advanced semiconductor packaging. However, dynamic voltage/frequency scaling, power gating, and advanced power delivery networks are outlined by IDTechEx as potential means of solving these problems.
TIMs and material benchmarks
Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are necessary to transfer heat from the source to a heatsink. The movement from 2.5D packaging to 3D packaging will see a desire for TIMs to achieve low thermal resistance. However, the TIMs selected are likely to be determined by a number of factors including thermal conductivity, mechanical reliability, ease of testing, cost, contact quality, and ability to be manufactured at high volumes. The TIMs currently available for semiconductor packaging include liquid metals, solid metals such as Indium foils, graphene sheets, and polymer-based TIMs. Liquid metals are known for being expensive, though can provide the desirable low thermal resistance, meaning there is always a trade-off to be had between performance and cost.
The exploration of new TIMs is ongoing, and includes materials such as thermal gels, indium foil, graphene sheets, and liquid metals, along with some novel and research-staged materials such as copper nanotube-based TIMs. Their qualities, including thermal conductivity, mechanical compliance, and ease of integration, are becoming increasingly important with the development of advanced semiconductor packaging. IDTechEx's report, "Thermal Interface Materials 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets and Forecasts", exclusively covers TIMs and their expected uptake over the next ten years.
Cooling approaches for HPC
Active liquid cooling will be necessary with the movement towards 3D packaging, according to IDTechEx, despite high-performance TIMs being able to provide some level of cooling functionality. Microfluidic cooling is one approach explored in the report, currently used within defense and miliary chip applications on a small scale, and therefore likely to be paving the way for wider commercial use in the future, despite its many challenges.
Air cooling, cold plate cooling, immersion cooling, and remote cooling, are four other types of technologies used within high performance computing (HPC) and are currently at different stages of scalability and commercialization. Cold plate cooling, both single and dual phase, is currently adopted in production HPC systems, and immersion cooling is primarily used for cooling multiple densely packed boards. Air cooling, however, is reportedly not scalable for high power density applications, while remote cooling, though not yet commercially available, is promising for future HPC applications. Their individual thermal capabilities, system impacts, integration complexities, and design constraints, are benchmarked in greater detail in IDTechEx's report.
IDTechEx's report further analyzes power trends, performance impacts, and power management in reducing arising challenges within the thermal management for semiconductors market. For more information, visit IDTechEx's report, "Thermal Management for Advanced Semiconductor Packaging 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets, and Opportunities", and the portfolio of Thermal Management Research Reports.
