High Performance Graphene Enhanced Thermal Interface Technology for Electronics Cooling Applications
Murali Murugesan†1 , Kristoffer Martinson1 , Amos Nikos1 , Tongchang Zhou1 , Hongfeng Zhang1 , Lars Almhem1 and Johan Liu†2
1 SHT Smart High Tech AB, Arendals Allé 3, SE-418 79, Gothenburg, Sweden
2 Electronics Materials and Systems Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2),
Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 9, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.
† Email: murali.murugesan@smarthightech.com and johan.liu@chalmers.se
ABSTRACT
The rapid growth of information technology continues to increase power density and integration levels in electronics devices, leading to an increase in greater heat dissipation, lower performance, and shorter operating life. Thus, the development of new Thermal Interface Materials (TIM) with substantially high thermal conductivity is essential for various device cooling applications. This paper focuses on the development of a new high-performance thermally conductive graphene enhanced TIM (GT-TIM) via chemical cross-linking of vertically aligned graphene and silicone polymer. The effect of vertical alignment on the thermal performance of the new GT-TIM has been evaluated and further potential use in various application areas has been proposed. Advantageously, GT-TIM offers a very low thermal contact resistance at the same time very high elasticity, recovery degree and very high reliability as compared to the state-of-the-art TIM materials available in the market.
INTRODUCTION
There is an increasing demand for efficient thermal dissipation materials with high thermal conductivity, and high elasticity to be used in electronics cooling applications such as 5G wireless modules, high-power CPUs/GPUs, data servers, gaming modules, LEDs, and Opto-modules.1-2 To handle the needs, the industry uses whatever the market can offer and takes higher repair costs, with lower/limited performance to survive and wait for better TIMs to be developed. This indicates that the electronics industry constantly seeks new TIM products to solve thermal management issues.