High Performance Thermal Management Materials

The need for advanced thermal management and packaging materials well recognized in the photonics and photovoltaics industries. In response, material suppliers have developed and are continuing to develop, an increasing number of advanced thermal management materials.  There are now many low-CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion), low-density materials with thermal conductivities up to 1700 W/m-K (over four times that of copper). Advanced materials can reduce component and system cost. They can tailor printed circuit board (PCB) CTE, potentially eliminating the need for underfill.  They also can increase PCB thermal conductivity, allowing heat removal from the bottom, as well as the top of a chip.  There are a large and increasing number of microelectronic and optoelectronic applications, including: substrates; PCBs; PCB cold plates; heat spreaders; heat sinks; thermal interface materials; microprocessor, RF and power packages; thermoelectric cooler heat sinks; laser diode and LED packages; plasma and LCD displays; photovoltaic packaging; and detectors.  This course covers the large and increasing number of advanced thermal management materials, including properties, manufacturing processes, applications, cost, lessons learned, typical development programs, and future directions, including carbon nanotubes.  Emerging high-performance thermal interface materials (TIMs) are examined. The course also discusses traditional thermal management materials, of which many packaging engineers are unaware.  Attendees are encouraged to bring problems for discussion.