Carbon Nanotube Thermal Interfaces Enhanced with Sprayed-On Nanoscale Polymer Coatings

As the semiconductor industry continually strives to increase the power density of single-chip packages, thermal management remains a critical challenge toward realizing both performance and reliability metrics. One of the primary bottlenecks inhibiting effective thermal management arises from the several interfaces that can exist between the chip and heat sink. Specifically, the thermal resistance of the thermal interface materials (TIMs) that are currently used to bridge these interfaces must be decreased. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), with their extraordinarily high axial thermal conductivity, have generated tremendous interest as candidates for providing low-resistance TIMs. A potentially scalable and low-cost process was developed that utilizes spray coating to deposit thin polymer films onto the tips of CNTs for bonding at room temperature.