It doesn't take long for an electronics assembler to realize that a thermal interface material (TIM) is essential when two or more solid surfaces are in the heat path. Standard machined surfaces are rough and wavy, leading to relatively few actual contact points between surfaces. The insulating air gaps created by multiple voids of "contacting" hard surfaces are simply too … [Read more...]
Calculations for Thermal Interface Materials
It's no news to any of the readers of this publication that the increased power dissipation of integrated circuits has led to continuous refinement of package designs and component materials. This trend has increased the importance of thermal interface materials (TIMs) as a key factor in determining the thermal performance of packages intended for high-power applications. This … [Read more...]
Optical Measurement Of Flip-Chip Package Warpage And Its Effect On Thermal Interfaces
Warpage of FC-PBGA Packages Flip chip technology has emerged as an important chip-level package solution to meet the ever-increasing demand of high I/O requirements. The flip chip technology was implemented originally for a multi-layer ceramic substrate. In the ceramic flip chip package, a shear strain in each bump, produced by the mismatch of the coefficient of thermal … [Read more...]
Thermal joint conductance for graphite materials
The heat flow across a metal/interstitial elastic-layer/metal joint is a very important problem in many microelectronic applications. It is generally known that when two surfaces are brought together, intimate solid-to-solid contact occurs only at discrete parts of the interface. Therefore, the actual contact area of pressed surfaces represents a very small fraction of the … [Read more...]
Flash Diffusivity Method: A Survey of Capabilities
The development, specification, and quality control of materials used in electronics packaging and thermal management often require the measurement of thermophysical properties.This data can be critical to a successful design, especially with the rapidly increasing cooling requirements that result from the packaging of higher performance devices. A variety of methods, involving … [Read more...]








