THERMAL MANAGEMENT FOR 5G SMARTPHONE

The 5G market is expanding rapidly, with the first installations already being demonstrated. At the handset level, 5G smartphones are now creating a race among local and also worldwide electronic manufacturers about technology as well as product quality.

So what are the problems 5G smartphone manufacturers have to face?

New heat and thermal issues are raising because:

5G cell towers operating on the higher frequency mmWaves and the implementation of massive MIMO

Market demand for lighter, thinner and faster devices, the circuitry within the devices becomes denser

The rising of a requirement for lighter and thinner and better elongation of thermal management material

Managing heat and temperature in these systems is critical to extending useful lifetime, particularly for components. Solutions to these challenges must be addressed at the board level, circuit design/ operation level, and through the use of active thermal management solutions. 

♦ CPU Heat Dissipation

Application Processor Heat Dissipation using Thermal Pad

In a mobile phone, an intensive Application Processor, power management circuit, and camera usage are the major heat sources. AP generates the most heat as it houses multiple sub-components such as GPU, multimedia codec, and especially CPU.

Furthermore, AP due to their relatively small size and complex circuitry, tend to generate more significant heat. This heat can become problematic when the microprocessor is situated in an enclosure have little or no ventilation. The heat must be controlled or dissipated to prevent damage to the microprocessor and to the surrounding circuitry.

♦ PMIC Heat Dissipation

Power Management Integrated Circuit Heat Dissipation by Thermal Grease

PMIC – Power Management integrated Circuit is known as one of the components that create a large amount of heat during operation of smartphones.

For thermal management of performance components such as Power Management ICs, RAM, and Image Processors, Prostech offers Curable Thermal Gap Filters providing a combination of good thermal conductivity, physical stability under vibration and temperature cycles, and stress relief.

♦ General Heat Dissipation

General Heat Dissipation for back housing by Graphite Pad

Graphite Sheet (PGS) can deliver the heat, which is generated by the CPU/Flash chip on Cell Phones’ mainboard PCB, evenly to the metal steel bracket and framework. Meanwhile, the heat from the high heat-making CPU chip can be spread throughout the plane of graphite sheet rapidly.

The graphite sheet on the steel bracket of the back of the battery bin also has the function of spreading heat evenly to the touch screen and dissipating the battery’s heat. It solves the problem of burning hands for long time use.

♦ Thermal Insulation for 5G Antenna

Thermal Insulation for 5G Antenna using Thermal Insulation Pad

Today’s sophisticated 5G mmWave antenna modules incorporate power amplifiers that generate heat close to the edge of the device. It is difficult to reduce surface temperatures by increasing the air gap due to space constraints and throttling hurts the 5G performance. Traditional thermal solutions are also not an option because they are electrically conductive and interfere with the RF signal.

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