Taking the heat out of electronic design – Why TIM is your ally?
The requirement to drive electronic components harder and faster, at higher power from smaller packages means they are running hotter – and too much heat is a component killer.
Why is TIM your ally? It’s a powerful, cost effective solution.
In the battle to get heat away from electronic components, TIM is a simple but very effective low cost solution that significantly improves the transfer of heat from component to heat sink.
LED’s, Electric vehicle motor drives, audio systems, automotive lighting, braking and steering systems
These are all examples of applications where TIM is used as part of effective thermal management to ensure reliability, performance and to prevent component failure.
The Thermal Interface Material is used to fill the air gaps that occur between mating surfaces in electronics. These gaps prevent the fast and effective transfer of heat between component and heat sink, but that heat must be quickly drawn away to protect components from overheating, damage and failure.
A variety of thermal interface material is available. Correct selection is very much application specific but falls into four main categories:
- Electrical and thermally conductive interface material
- Thermally conductive gap fillers
- Thermal phase change materials
- Thermally conductive electrically insulating material
