Characterization of thermal interface materials to support thermal simulation

In this paper new characterization equipment for thermal interface materials is presented. Thermal management of electronic products relies on the effective dissipation of heat. This can be achieved by the optimization of the system design with the help of simulation methods. The precision of these models relies also on the used material data. For the determination of this data an experimental set-up for a static measurement is presented, which evaluates thermal conductivity and interface resistance of thermal interface materials (e.g. adhesive, solder, pads, or pastes). A qualitative structure-property correlation is proposed taking into account particle size, filler content and void formation at the interface based on high resolution FIB imaging. The paper gives an overview over the set-up and the measurement technique and discusses experimental and simulation results.