Power Of Thermally Conductive Materials

Thermally Conductive Insulators

The demand for higher performance in electronic devices has led to the development of advanced 3D integrated circuit technologies that require superior heat dissipation. Unlike 2D ICs, where the power dissipated in the components is proportional to their size, 3D ICs require much more powerful cooling systems to disperse the heat. Thermal management is therefore a major concern for the success of these new systems, and achieving the necessary performance is becoming increasingly challenging.

High-speed circuits operate over extremely short time frames, while the heat generated by these circuits is emitted in much longer periods of time. The disparity between these two time scales makes it difficult to predictThe Power of Thermally Conductive Insulators behavior of complex 3D-IC packages in an accurate way.

To address this problem, CMI offers a range of thermally conductive insulation materials to enable designers to design more efficient cooling solutions for their 3D-IC designs. These materials include thermally conductive gap fillers, thermal pads, and thermally conductive double-sided adhesive tapes.

The thermally conductive insulation materials feature the required thermal conductivity, temperature resistance and dielectric strength, while maximizing the thickness, mechanical resilience and processability of the carrier material. The products also provide an excellent mating surface for low pressure clip mounting applications and can be die-cut to suit a variety of layouts and dimensions.

Several factors can influence the thermal conductivity of a material, including temperature, surface area, particle size, chemical composition and crystalline structure. Among these factors, particle size and chemical composition are the most important, as they directly affect the conductivity of a material by influencing its phonon scattering energy. In addition, crystalline structures tend to have lower thermal conductivity than glassy structures because they are less dense and more reflective.

In general, a material with low thermal conductivity has a greater insulating capability than one with high thermal conductivity. A material’s insulating capability is defined by its product density (r) and its specific heat capacity (c). These properties depend on the temperature of the material, and are expressed as a scalar or a second-rank tensor, depending on whether the material is anisotropic or isotropic.

Insulation materials run the gamut from bulky fibers such as fiberglass, rock and slag wool, cellulose, and natural fibers to rigid foam boards and sleek foils. These materials resist conductive and -- to a lesser extent -- convective heat flow in a building cavity or room, as well as radiant heating from the sun.

A material’s thermal conductivity is influenced by its surface area and its density, as well as the temperature and chemical composition of the surrounding air. For this reason, it is often useful to compare the thermal conductivity of a particular material with that of the surrounding air at a given temperature. This ratio is known as the thermal conductivity factor or, more commonly, the thermal insulance value.