Review of Test Equipment for Thermal Interface Material and More in June Qpedia Thermal eMagazine

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul. 22, 2011 - The June issue of Qpedia Thermal eMagazine, published by Advanced Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ATS) is packed with both helpful and informative articles. ATS’s engineering team authors ATS’s informative journal insuring that each article is a solid educational and informative piece.  June’s issue includes articles on: Phase Change Materials and Transient Loads, Modern test equipment for TIM Testing, The Benefits of Supply Air Temperature Control in the Data Centre, and Effects of Different Compounds and Cooling Enhancements on the Thermal Resistance of a Stacked Die.   One of the key articles in this month’s QPedia is a review of test equipment for thermal interface material.

The quality of thermal interface materials (TIM) has become increasingly important as the ever increasing thermal dissipation level of IC’s requires more sophisticated solutions to reduce the thermal resistance R(th) along
the heat-flow path.  TIM manufacturers have considerably enhanced TIM’s thermal conductivity by using nanoparticles as fillings in new TIM materials.  Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are placed between electronic devices and their heat sinks to enhance heat transfer. Thus for electronics cooling, it is necessary to know the TIM thermal resistance. Most of the TIM’s characterization methods are based on the ASTM standard D14570. According to ASTM D14570, a TIM sample is placed between a hot and a cold meter bar with a constant heat flux being applied. The thermal resistance of the sample TIM is calculated from the known heat flux forced through the tester and from the measured temperature drop, including the contact resistance of the TIM to the tester.  However, there are difficulties in the characterization of new TIMs, especially for TIMs that are made of advanced interface materials: because their thermal resistances approach zero.   This requires new kinds of equipment to test these materials.  Our review article includes Trinitiy College and Alcatel-Lucent’s High Accuracy TIM tester and Budapest University of Technologies High Accuracy TIM tester.  Both testers represent the state of the art of thermal interface material testing.

The new edition of Qpedia emagazine is available at http://qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Current-Issue/18... Engineers and others interested in electronics thermal management can get a free subscription to Qpedia, published monthly by ATS, at http://qats.com/Qpedia-Thermal-eMagazine/Back-Issues/19.aspx   Subscribers also have access to previous Qpedia issues.

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