Thermal Solutions for Tight Semiconductor Cavities

Today’s tech landscape is rapidly evolving, especially in the automotive and communications sectors. Driven by the increased adoption of 5G and 6G as well as advances in data processing, data speeds, and internet connectivity, all sorts of applications from medical devices to EV car batteries are getting faster, more efficient, and more connected.

To keep up with the demand and shifting requirements, manufacturers are now commonly developing chips or semiconductors that are integrated into full-on assemblies. Semiconductors can often be found in devices such as integrated circuits, tools that are used for data processing and discreet applications, wireless communication chips, embedded processors, CPUs, power amplifiers, microprocessors, and more. Common applications are data storage, communications modules and automotive processing modules.

These chips can generate immense amounts of heat, as the electronics they are utilized in are both very powerful and dense—and getting more so all the time. Without proper management and forethought, heat can have many negative repercussions. In fact, it is the number one reason for electronic failure across all possible failure modes, accounting for about 55% of all electronic failures!

It is critical to not only manage that heat but to do so in very small spaces. That’s because while the chips and integrated circuits themselves are small, they are also going into very small or tightly compact devices. To accommodate this design need, it’s important to manage the heat in a way that allows you to minimize the amount of material utilized and take advantage of a thermal interface material (TIM) at a very thin bond line. And, you must take into account that the rest of the system is only going to continue getting smaller and smaller.

Addressing Unique Thermal Needs

At Parker Chomerics, we’re continually innovating to help our clients meet their applications’ thermal management needs. One specific area of focus for us is thermal phase change materials, which typically start as a solid or paste then go through a phase transition and effectively melt once they are heated. This mechanism allows them to displace air in interstitial gaps, providing a much more effective thermal pathway from the heat-generating component to the heat-dissipating surface, whether that be a water-cooling feature, heat pipe or cold plate. Phase-change materials are designed to maximize heat sink performance and improve component reliability.

An example of this kind of material is Parker Chomerics THERM-FLOW® phase-change TIMs. Upon reaching operating temperature, THERMFLOW materials will fully change phase and attain minimum bond-line thickness to maximize surface wetting. This results in practically no thermal contact resistance due to a very small thermal resistance path. At room temperature, THERM-FLOW materials are solid and easy to handle. This allows them to be consistently and cleanly applied as dry pads to a heat sink or component surface. With light clamping pressure, they will readily conform to both mating surfaces. 

Parker Chomerics offers two types of phase change materials—traditional thermal interface pads and dual phase change polymer solder hybrids.

The pace of technology innovation shows no signs of slowing down, and high-performing TIMs from Parker Chomerics can help chip manufacturers keep up. Get started today with a free sample. 

This article was originally published to Parker Hannifin.