The low power Intel® Atom CPU is not just for laptops and MIDs- it
is beginning to be applied as the center of single board computers for
general industrial, medical and commercial applications. This has
increased the demand for operation under extended and industrial
temperature regimes either by up rating the commercial Atom
processor, or by using the new Atom XL CPU. For ten years the
Columbia, MD design center of Eurotech has up rated ARM and other
CPU architectures, and we compared uprating of the standard Atom
part to the Atom XL, which is rated for either extended temperature
(-20°C to +70°C) or Industrial Temperature (-40°C to +85°C). We
performed some thermal tests to verify extended temperature range
and to further discuss the design and manufacturing issues
associated with the industrial temperature rated x86 chips.