Power semiconductors are encountering the same thermal control situations experienced by the microprocessor industry in the early 1990s. For example, as microprocessor speed increased, so did heat. Under constrained conditions, conventional cooling approaches, such as extruded heat sinks, were insufficient to meet the ever-increasing cooling needs for the microprocessor. The computer industry found a solution using heat pipes. Today, heat pipes are used extensively for cooling microprocessors in laptops, desktop computers, high performance servers and workstations.