Simplified Thermal Transient Testing: Unlocking Affordable, Open-Source Solutions

Thermal transient analysis (TTA) is a powerful technique for assessing thermal characteristics of electronic packages. However, commercial tools for TTA are often expensive and rely on proprietary solutions, limiting accessibility. This work presents a cost-effective and open-source approach for conducting high-resolution thermal transient measurements. It introduces the open-source Python package PyRth, which offers a cutting-edge thermal transient analysis toolkit. In addition, it demonstrates how general-purpose source measure units, such as the Keithley 2461, can be programmed with Lua-based scripts to perform complete thermal transient tests. The combination of open-source software and accessible hardware establishes a reproducible and customizable workflow for researchers and engineers, supporting integration into laboratory environments and industrial applications. Lastly, using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) for network identification by deconvolution is discussed.