Abstract
The influence of processing on filled-polymeric bondline microstructure and thermal performance was examined. Cu/thermal interface material/Cu trilayers were assembled with a viscously applied, adhesive thermal interface material with Ag filler particles. It was found that decreasing the squeeze rate used for bondline formation from 10 to 0.1 µm/s resulted in a change in the microstructure from fairly homogeneous (homogeneous at 50 µm length scales and above) to one with marked segregation of many filler particles into highly compacted structures spanning the bondline thickness. A three-fold increase in effective thermal conductivity was correlated with this microstructure change. Significant changes in microstructure resulted when the compressive force (300N) used to form the bondline was removed before the bondline structure was stabilized by a cure operation and a four fold increase in the thermal resistance of such bondlines was observed.
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Rae, D.F., Borgesen, P. & Cotts, E.J. The effect of filler-network heterogeneity on thermal resistance of polymeric thermal bondlines. JOM 63, 78–84 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-011-0180-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-011-0180-5