US 6,054,676 AGranted

Method and apparatus for cooling an integrated circuit device

AssigneeKryotech, Inc.

InventorsCharles B. Wall, Johnston W. Peeples, Terry Craps, Robert DiGiacomo

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Abstract

An apparatus for cooling an integrated circuit device includes a sealed thermally insulated chamber containing the integrated circuit device. A cooling element is located in chamber and is in thermal contact with the integrated circuit device for cooling the device. The integrated circuit device is mounted in a socket having socket pins that extend through a heater board forming one side of the device to projecting exposed external end portions. A heating element in the form of a polymer thick film resistor is deposited on the heater board on the inside of the chamber in the vicinity of the socket pins. The heating element is activated as necessary by a thermostatic control circuit to maintain the temperature of the exposed external end portions of the socket pins above a predetermined threshold to prevent moisture condensation on the projecting portions of the pins.

Claims24

Dependent claims

An apparatus for cooling an integrated circuit device having projecting connector pins, said apparatus comprising:

a generally planar heater board having an array of openings formed therein;
a socket mounted to said heater board for receiving and electrically coupling to the integrated circuit device, said socket including a base member and an array of elongated socket pins projecting from said base member through said openings in said heater board to exposed external ends, each of said socket pins defining a receptacle on said base member for receiving a corresponding connector pin of the integrated circuit device;
means for sealing said socket pins in said openings formed in said heater board;
a housing mounted and sealed to said heater board, said housing defining a thermally insulated internal cavity sized to contain an integrated circuit device disposed in said socket;
a thermally conductive cooling element in said cavity, said cooling element being positioned in thermal contact with an integrated circuit device contained in said cavity and being coupled to a cooling system for cooling said cooling element and, in turn, the integrated circuit device, to a predetermined temperature;
and
heating means on said heater board for maintaining said exposed external ends of said socket pins at a predetermined temperature sufficiently high to prevent the condensation of moisture on said external end portions of said socket pins.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.