A simulation of fin structures thermal design for high-power integrated circuit dynamic burn-in test

Dynamic burn-in of high-power integrated circuits requires heat-sink selection under a concentrated load in an unshrouded test configuration with surrounding bypass clearance. This study compares plate-fin and pin-fin heat sinks for a 200 W, 44.25 mm × 44.25 mm chip in a common 100 mm × 100 mm × 65 mm envelope with four-sided bypass. 9 plate-fin and 27 pin-fin geometries were evaluated at U = 2, 5, and 8 m/s, giving 108 steady conjugate heat-transfer cases. Performance was assessed using chip average temperature T avg , heat-sink-to-air thermal resistance R th , whole-domain pressure drop ΔP sys , heat flow into the fluid Q fluid , apparent whole-heat-sink Nusselt number Nu app , and an adapted within-family thermal performance factor (TPF). Grid verification was performed at all three velocities, and a nine-point plate-fin Nu app comparison gave a mean absolute percentage error of 8.15%. Among the evaluated plate-fin levels, s = 4.5 mm gave the best spacing trade-off, and t = 1 mm, (H base , H fin ) = (18.57, 46.43) mm produced the highest within-family TPF at all three velocities. For pin fins, diameter and array density dominated; the TPF-optimal configuration changed from D fin = 5 mm, (N fin,x , N fin,z ) = (15, 10), in-line at 2 m/s to D fin = 3 mm, (10, 15), staggered at 5 and 8 m/s. Mean radiative contribution fell from 2.099% to 0.905% as velocity increased. The study provides a controlled 108-case comparison under common thermal, geometric, bypass, and inlet conditions and reports velocity-specific design choices for the evaluated unshrouded four-sided-bypass burn-in configuration.