Thermal Conductivity Measurements of Thermal Interface Materials Using the Bidirectional 3-Omega Method

The bidirectional 3-omega method is used in this work to determine thermal conductivity of various thermal interface materials. In contrast to the standard steady-state ASTM D5470 method, this method can even be applied to high thermal conductivity materials. In this work, the thermal conductivity of various thermal adhesives, greases and liquid metal is measured using the bidirectional 3-omega method and compared to results obtained by the standard ASTM D5470 method. In addition, time- and temperature-dependent measurements using the 3-omega are demonstrated for these materials. The results show that the bidirectional 3-omega method is well-applicable for such samples and measurements. The method could be helpful for testing and development of TIM materials and the optimization of their thermal conductivity under different curing and operating conditions.