Thermal Reliability Study of Polymer Bonded Carbon Nanotube Array Thermal Interface Materials

Following Moores law, the development of electronics has led to an exponential increase of transistor density over the last couple of decades. Unfortunately, this trend also gives an increased heat power density in active components. Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are used to decrease the thermal resistance in thermal packages by filling out air gaps that naturally form there. TIMs are at the same time identified as a bottleneck due to their relatively low thermal conductivity. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are proposed as a future material for TIMs due to their high thermal conductivity and conformable nature. However, no reliability studies for CNT array TIMs can be found in literature that would demonstrate how these types of interfaces would perform. This is to the authors best knowledge the first reported study on thermal reliability for a CNT array TIM, which will be an important step towards a market realisation

Design and realization of characterization demonstrator to investigate thermal performance of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes TIM for avionics and aerospace applications

In the joint project SMARTHERM the applicability of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) is main subject of interest. Target is the implementation of a VACNT layer as functional thermal interface material into an RF package to prove this promising technology\u27s feasibility. This paper presents the approach the SMARTHERM consortium has taken so far. Beginning with a general motivation why to engage in this topic, the approach and the chosen demonstrator design are introduced. One focus lies on the description of the demonstrator and its components alongside with a comprehensive view into the assembling as main challenge. The choice of measurement techniques is discussed and the measures of success are defined. Finally, the results are presented, discussed and concluded and an outlook is provided how the findings influence further approaches in the project