Semiconductor module and heat sink used in such module

Details Semiconductor module and heat sink used in such module Semiconductor module and heat sink used in such module

2001-08-10

2002-04-09

Thompson, Gregory (Department: 2811)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...

For electronic systems and devices

C165S080300, C165S185000, C174S016300, C257S719000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06370027

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor module, particularly to a heat sink for a semiconductor module used as an extended or expanded memory module in a personal computer or the like. Also, the present invention relates to a semiconductor module in which the above-mentioned heat sink for a semiconductor module is incorporated.
2. Description of the Related Art
First, the structure of a semiconductor module, especially that generally used as an extended or expanded memory module in a personal computer or the like, will be described with reference to FIG.
14
.
A memory module
10
is comprised of a circuit board
12
having a plurality of terminals
11
formed along an edge thereof, and a plurality of semiconductor memories
14
mounted on both surfaces of the circuit board
12
. The semiconductor memory
14
may be mounted in various ways. For example, a memory element (memory chip) itself which is a semiconductor element is directly carried on the circuit board by a flip-chip method or others, or the memory element may be packaged with resinous material together with a lead frame to form a semiconductor device which is then mounted onto the circuit board. Alternatively, the semiconductor memory may be of a chip-size package type such as &mgr; BGA.
Next, a structure of a prior art heat sink used in this memory module
10
as well as an attachment structure therefor will be described with reference to
FIGS. 14
to
16
.
A heat sink
16
is constructed by a pair of metallic plates
18
, each formed to have a generally rectangular contour similar to that of the circuit board
12
and have a size sufficient for covering an overall area in the circuit board
12
mounting the semiconductor memories
14
thereon. A recess
20
is formed in the respective metallic plate
18
, having dimensions capable of receiving the semiconductor memory
14
of a certain thickness attached to the surface of the circuit board
12
so that an inner surface of the metallic plate
18
is brought into close contact with a back surface of the semiconductor memory
14
when the metallic plates
18
is brought into close contact with the both sides of the circuit board
12
, respectively.
The heat sink
16
is attached to the circuit board
12
while using a plurality of through-holes
24
provided at positions corresponding to a plurality of (e.g. four) attachment holes
22
provided in the circuit board
12
.
The heat sinks
16
are arranged on the respective sides of the memory module
10
so that all of the through-holes
24
provided in the respective heat sink are aligned with the respective attachment holes corresponding thereto.
Then, a rivet
26
is inserted into the through-hole
24
of the heat sink
16
and the attachment hole
22
thus aligned to each other, while protecting opposite ends of the rivet
26
out of the holes
22
,
24
. The projected ends are hammered to have a larger diameter. Thereby, the heat sinks
16
are attached to the both surfaces of the memory module
10
.
However, there is a problem when the heat sinks
16
are attached to the memory module
10
in the above-mentioned manner, in that the operation is extremely troublesome, for bringing the heat sinks
16
into close contact with the circuit board
12
of the memory module
10
via a tape
28
while positioning the through-holes
24
to the attachment holes
22
corresponding thereto and inserting the rivets
26
one by one into the respective through-holes
24
aligned with the attachment holes
22
, after which the projected ends of the rivet are hammered to secure the heat sink
16
to the memory module
10
.
This is because there is no positioning mechanism between the circuit board
12
and the heat sink
16
, whereby the alignment between both the holes is liable to be disturbed, by a trifling cause, to prevent the rivets
26
from being inserted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem in the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a heat sink for a semiconductor module capable of being easily attached to the semiconductor module.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor module on which the heat sink for a semiconductor module is mounted.
According to the present invention, there is provided a heat sink adapted to be used for a semiconductor module, the heat sink comprising: a pair of metallic plates, between which a circuit board having attachment holes is to be disposed, in such a manner that spaces are defined between the circuit board and the pair of metallic plates for accommodating semiconductor elements or semiconductor devices mounted on the circuit board, when the pair of metallic plates are attached to the circuit board; one of the metallic plates provided at positions corresponding to the attachment holes with through holes; the other metallic plate provided at positions corresponding to the attachment holes with tubular projections having a length larger than a sum of a thickness of the circuit board and a thickness of the one metallic plate; and the tubular projections capable of being inserted into the attachment holes and the through holes, and tip ends of the tubular projections capable of being enlarged so as to firmly attach the pair of metallic plates to the circuit board.
The tubular projections are integrally formed with the other metallic plate.
The pair of metallic plates are integrally connected to each other by means of a connecting portion having a width substantially the same as the thickness of the circuit board, so that the pair of metallic plates can be bent along the connecting portion so as to be attached to the circuit board.
Thin portions are provided at boundaries between the connecting portion and the metallic plates, so that the pair of metallic plates can easily be bent along the thin portions to be attached to the circuit board.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat sink adapted to be used for a semiconductor module, the heat sink comprising: a pair of same or symmetrical metallic plates, between which a circuit board having at least a pair of attachment holes is to be disposed, in such a manner that spaces are defined between the circuit board and the pair of metallic plates for accommodating semiconductor elements or semiconductor devices mounted on the circuit board, when the pair of metallic plates are attached to the circuit board; each of the metallic plates provided at a position corresponding to one of the attachment holes with a through holes and at a position corresponding to the other attachment hole with a tubular projection having a length larger than a sum of a thickness of the circuit board and a thickness of the metallic plate; and the tubular projections of the respective metallic plates capable of being inserted into the attachment holes and the through holes of the respective other metallic plates and tip ends of the tubular projections capable of being enlarged so as to firmly attached the pair of metallic plates to the circuit board.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat sink adapted to be used for a semiconductor module, the heat sink comprising: a pair of metallic plates, between which a circuit board, having attachment holes, is to be disposed in such a manner that spaces are defined between the circuit board and the pair of metallic plates for accommodating semiconductor elements or semiconductor devices mounted on the circuit board, when the pair of metallic plates are attached to the circuit board; each of the metallic plates provided at positions corresponding to the attachment holes with through holes; the pair of metallic plates integrally connected to each other by means of a connecting portion having a width substantially same as the thickness of the circuit board; and thin portions provided at a boundary between the connecting portion and the metallic plates, so that the pair of metalli

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