Mechanical and thermal characterization of a novel nanocomposite thermal interface material for electronic packaging

Abstract

This paper presents a novel nanocomposite thermal interface material (Nano-TIM) consisting of a silver coated polyimide network and the indium matrix. One of the potential applications of this Nano-TIM is for heat dissipation in integrated circuits and electronic packaging. The shear strength of the Nano-TIM was investigated with DAGE-4000PSY shear tester. The shear strength of Nano-TIM is 4.5 MPa, which is 15 % higher than that of the pure indium thermal interface material. The microstructure of cross-section and fracture surface was studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). SEM pictures show a uniform polymer fiber distribution and solid interface between silver coated fibers and indium matrix. The thermal fatigue resistance of the Nano-TIM was evaluated by monitoring the variation of thermal interface resistance during the thermal cycling test (-40 to 125 °C). The thermal interface resistance was measured with a commercial xenon flash instrument after 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 1000 temperature cycles. The results of thermal cycling test show that Nano-TIM presented consistent reliability performance with pure indium. Furthermore, the cooling effect of Nano-TIM was demonstrated through measuring the power chip temperature in the die attached structure by using an Infrared Camera. In the test, the Nano-TIM shows a comparable cooling effect to pure indium TIM for die attach applications in electronics packaging.

Novel nanostructured thermal interface materials: a review

“…A different approach towards metal matrix composites was introduced by Carlberg et al [118] in which a fibre mat is infiltrated by reflowed solder under high pressure to form a composite material. The concept was demonstrated for fibre made out of Ag coated polyimide [119][120][121], carbon nanofibres [122] and BN [123] together with both Indium [118,119,121,123] and SAC solder [120,122]. The performance is comparable to bulk solder, but with significantly improved mechanical properties as well as handling capabilities, such as an ultimate tensile strength five times higher than pure indium for a Ag-coated polyimide fibre /indium composite [124].…”

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