Materials and methods for thermal and electrical conductivity

Abstract

A method of implementing a carbon nanotube thermal interface material onto a heat sink that includes growing carbon nanotubes on said heat sink by chemical vapor deposition and compressing the carbon nanotubes onto metallic surfaces to increase a contact surface area between the carbon nanotubes and the metallic surfaces. The increase in the contact surface area is the area of the carbon nanotubes that is in contact with the metallic surfaces.

Description

technical field [0001] Certain embodiments of the invention relate to carbon nanotubes. More specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to carbon nanotube-based thermal interface materials. Background technique [0002] Continuing advances in microelectronic devices have resulted in smaller circuit boards and the dramatic development of processors with greater speed and computing power. Due to these new developments, the total heat generated per unit area on the board has also increased. Therefore, overheating is one of the main causes of electronic failure in microelectronic devices. [0003] To solve the problem of overheating, heat sinks are used to remove heat from electronic devices. However, even the best heatsinks cannot dissipate heat effectively unless there is close contact between the processor unit and the heatsink. Thermal interface materials ("TIMs") are used for this purpose. These thermal interface materials flow and conform to the...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

But all previous attempts have the following shortcomings: (1) The film is not self-supporting: the thermal resistance of carbon nanotubes grown on copper or other metal / silicon substrates has been tested

These systems are not available for commercial use

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