Testing Thermal Interface Material (TIM) Analysis

Overview

This webinar will provide an introduction to the most commonly used Thermal Interface Material (TIM) types and their corresponding testing techniques. Basic TIM properties such as bulk or effective thermal conductivity, interfacial thermal resistance and bond line thickness will be explained. At the beginning, an overview of the existing industrial and experimental test methods aimed at measuring the thermal conductivity of these materials. The ASTM D-5470 steady state TIM testing standard will be explained and evaluated. In the second part of the presentation newly developed test setups will be shown which mean an enhancement to the existing standard, including a possible in-situ solution. These new approaches will be explained in detail and measurement results will be shown. In the final part of the presentation the presenter will discuss the importance of the evaluation of long term reliability of these materials beside the highly precise measurement of their thermal conductivity.

What You Will Learn

• The importance of the proper selection of thermal interface materials in an electric system
• The most important properties describing the performance of a TIM materials
• Benefits and drawbacks of commonly used TIM testing techniques including the ASTM D-5470 standard
• Some new ways of improvements of the existing TIM testing techniques
• An in-situ TIM testing solution
• A possible definition of the failure criteria for the degradation of thermal interface materials

Who Should View

• TIM manufacturers and end-users
• System designers of electronic systems
• Thermal engineers
• Engineers interested in reliability issues