Reliability Investigation of a Carbon Nanotube Array Thermal Interface Material

Andreas Nylander, Josef Hansson, Majid Kabiri Samani, Christian Chandra Darmawan, Ana Borta Boyon, Laurent Divay, Lilei Ye, Yifeng Fu, Afshin Ziaei and Johan Liu
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Andreas Nylander: Electronics Materials and Systems Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 9, 412 58 Göteborg, Sweden
Josef Hansson: Electronics Materials and Systems Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 9, 412 58 Göteborg, Sweden
Majid Kabiri Samani: Electronics Materials and Systems Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 9, 412 58 Göteborg, Sweden
Christian Chandra Darmawan: SHT Smart High Tech AB, Kemivägen 6, 412 58 Göteborg, Sweden
Ana Borta Boyon: Thales Research and Technology - France, Campus Polytechnique 1, avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau cedex, France
Laurent Divay: Thales Research and Technology - France, Campus Polytechnique 1, avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau cedex, France
Lilei Ye: SHT Smart High Tech AB, Kemivägen 6, 412 58 Göteborg, Sweden
Yifeng Fu: Electronics Materials and Systems Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 9, 412 58 Göteborg, Sweden
Afshin Ziaei: Thales Research and Technology - France, Campus Polytechnique 1, avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91767 Palaiseau cedex, France
Johan Liu: Electronics Materials and Systems Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Chalmers University of Technology, Kemivägen 9, 412 58 Göteborg, Sweden

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: As feature density increases within microelectronics, so does the dissipated power density, which puts an increased demand on thermal management. Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are used at the interface between contacting surfaces to reduce the thermal resistance, and is a critical component within many electronics systems. Arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained significant interest for application as TIMs, due to the high thermal conductivity, no internal thermal contact resistances and an excellent conformability. While studies show excellent thermal performance, there has to date been no investigation into the reliability of CNT array TIMs. In this study, CNT array TIMs bonded with polymer to close a Si-Cu interface were subjected to thermal cycling. Thermal interface resistance measurements showed a large degradation of the thermal performance of the interface within the first 100 cycles. More detailed thermal investigation of the interface components showed that the connection between CNTs and catalyst substrate degrades during thermal cycling even in the absence of thermal expansion mismatch, and the nature of this degradation was further analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This study indicates that the reliability will be an important consideration for further development and commercialization of CNT array TIMs.

Keywords: thermal management; carbon nanotubes; thermal interface material; reliability; thermal aging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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