Performance comparison of thermal interface materials for power electronics applications

One important challenge in power electronics design is removing the heat cost effectively from the power devices mounted on thermal vias on a printed circuited board (PCB). Thermal vias is a cluster of small diameter hole plated with copper and is used to transfer the heat from one side of the PCB where the power device is soldered to the other side which is generally mounted on a heat sink using a thermal interface material (TIM). To minimize the contact resistance and provide electrical insulation between the PCB and heat sink, TIMs are used to fill the air gaps and are an essential part of an assembly when solid surfaces are attached together. This paper presents a detailed comparison of the properties of various off-the-shelf available TIMs to be specifically used between PCB with thermal vias and heat sink. Experimental results are presented to determine the thermal performance of various TIMs.