Book excerpt: Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. The "hands-on" guide to thermal management! In recent years, heat-sensitive electronic systems have been miniaturized far more than their heat-producing power supplies, leading to major design and reliability challenges — and making thermal management a critical design factor. This timely handbook covers all the practical issues that any packaging engineer must consider with regard to the thermal management of printed circuit boards, hybrid circuits, and multichip modules. Readers will also benefit from the extensive data on material properties and circuit functions, thus enabling more intelligent decisions at the design stage — and preventing thermal-related problems from occurring in the first place.