Reliability and Thermal Degradation of First-Level Thermal Interface Materials

The challenge of the heat dissipation of electronic packaging comes from the continuous increase in power consumption and power density of high-power devices. The demand for the use of thermal interface materials (TIMs) with excellent thermal conductivity between the surface of the heat source and the heat dissipation module is thus increasing. In addition to thermal performance, TIMs are also required to have good reliability and thermal degradation. In this paper, the reliability were evaluated for three types of TIM, including high-temperature storage (HTS), Highly accelerated temperature and humidity stress test (HAST) and high and low temperature cycling (HLTC). The trend of thermal resistance change and thermal degradation under various reliability test conditions were analyzed. The results show that after HAST and high and low temperature cycle evaluation, the sample can maintain the original characteristics. However, the thermal degradation of TIMs is more serious after high-temperature storage test. Therefore TIMs are more sensitive to long-term exposure to high temperature environments.