Indeed, system complexity, like the device failure rate vs. temperature relationship itself, is rising exponentially. Savvy designers, even more aware of the importance and subtleties of power management, reliability and control, need little nudging to pick up on the new and needed information. Indeed, they know 95 percent efficiencies at kilowatt levels are barely good enough for higher-power applications.

Even those mildly plugged in to the subject, however, may be surprised by the advances, mostly apparent in cost-effective extrusion (2-D) and die-cast (3-D) sinks, but also seen in the higher-powered cold plates and efficient but costly thermoelectric coolers often used for lasers.

Arriving heat-sink design software is destined to provide an integrated approach to more reliable sink and fan/sink assembly. And with that, designers are beginning to realize that custom design, not standard off-the-shelf parts, is a growing necessity.

The software is becoming more pervasive, more exacting, more complete. Heat-sink assemblies are becoming more integrated, with baseplates and fan/blowers becoming part and parcel of the same physical design. Mechanically, improved fin designs and heat-sink architectures are springing up every month to maximize dissipation efficacy.

With that, heat sinks are increasingly coming together, literally, with better assembly techniques, such as the use of clips and spring-loads vs. the classical nut-and-bolt solutions. There's increased use of liquid-cooled devices to maximize heat removal. Materials and cold-forging (compression) technologies are also advancing to improve on the thermal conductivity of standard aluminum, with copper and some rather odd elements for smaller parts coming into their own.

Without a doubt, heat-sink design is at the crossroads of exciting developments. As with most important yet in-the-mud areas in power, though, it's becoming more difficult to keep up. "But dig we must," to paraphrase a popular '60s weatherman in promoting his city's major power utility, "for a growing New York."