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To: Pravin Kamdar who wrote (133688)	9/23/2004 11:58:14 PM
From: dougSF30	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 275872

It must have better thermal conduction than the heatsink, Actually, they don't. The real purpose is to protect the die. Doug

To: Pravin Kamdar who wrote (133688)	9/24/2004 12:49:49 AM
From: eCo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 275872

Pravin: [Heat spreader] must have better thermal conduction than the heatsink, and help fan out the energy flow from the die to the heatsink; giving a larger and more efficient energy collection area on the heatsink side. No. Consider it just another resister for the heat to get through before reaching the air. That said, it is more forgiving of lousy grease/heatsink application jobs than the bare die since there's vastly more area to work with. Eco

To: Pravin Kamdar who wrote (133688)	9/24/2004 1:24:59 PM
From: Ali Chen	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 275872

"It must have better thermal conduction than the heatsink" The key term here is "the heatsink". Omission of further qualifier causes typical confusion and extremists ingnorant statements like "the heat spreader doesn't really help the die temperature". Which heatsink, that is the question. If we are talking about economically-effective heatsinks, they are typically made of extruded aluminum, and the copper slab makes a significant difference by "spreading heat" from localized source (die) and providing vastly more area for heatsink attachment, which allows for sloppier mount job (as mentioned by _eco_) and/or less expensive thermal interface, and simultaneously protects die corners from chipping. If we are talking about all-copper custom-made monsters that may cost as much as the chip itself, then yes, the copper slab may be no different (assuming that the heatsink copper alloy is of the same thermal quality), and skipping the secondary thermal interface (between the spreader and sink) may actually help a degree or two. Now you need to decide which case is more important to consider, a unique custom-made hobbist machine, or PCs produced in millions per week. I hope this clears the confusion of Mr. DougSF and educates him a bit. Regards, - Ali