With the miniaturization, high power density, and high integration of modern electronics, heat accumulation has emerged as a critical issue that affects their performance and reliability. The application of thermal interface materials is a common thermal management strategy. Herein, we report thermally conductive and insulating thermal interface materials composed of core-shell structured Al@Al2O3 and epoxy resin. The composites exhibit thermal conductivity of 0.92 W m−1 K−1 at 60 wt% filler contents, which is about 4.2 times higher than that of the epoxy resin. The oxidation of Al particles results in the formation of dense nanoscale insulating Al2O3 shell, which effectively restricts the electron transfer, thus leading to a very high electrical resistivity and puncture voltage of the composites. The polymer composites filled with Al@Al2O3 particles have excellent insulation property, high thermal conductivity and outstanding thermos-mechanical performance, which could be a potential thermal interface material in advanced electronic packaging techniques.

Spherical core-shell Al@Al2O3 filled epoxy resin composites as high-performance thermal interface materials

Review of Thermal Packaging Technologies for Automotive Power Electronics for Traction Purposes

The significant advance of power electronics in today's market is calling for high-performance power conversion systems and MEMS devices that can operate reliably in harsh environments, such as high working temperature. Silicon-carbide (SiC) power electronic devices are featured by the high junction temperature, low power losses, and excellent thermal stability, and thus are attractive to converters and MEMS devices applied in a high-temperature environment. This paper conducts an overview of high-temperature power electronics, with a focus on high-temperature converters and MEMS devices. The critical components, namely SiC power devices and modules, gate drives, and passive components, are introduced and comparatively analyzed regarding composition material, physical structure, and packaging technology. Then, the research and development directions of SiC-based high-temperature converters in the fields of motor drives, rectifier units, DC-DC converters are discussed, as well as MEMS devices. Finally, the existing technical challenges facing high-temperature power electronics are identified, including gate drives, current measurement, parameters matching between each component, and packaging technology.

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Silicon Carbide Converters and MEMS Devices for High-temperature Power Electronics: A Critical Review

Efficient heat spreader using supersonically sprayed graphene and silver nanowire

Efficient thermal transport network construction within epoxy composites with hybrid ceramic fillers

We have investigated a novel hybrid nanocomposite thermal interface material (TIM) that consists of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), silver nanoflakes (AgNFs), and copper microparticles (CuMPs). Continuous metallic network form while AgNPs and AgNFs fuse to join bigger CuMPs upon hot compression, resulting in superior thermal and mechanical performances. The assembly temperature is as low as 125 °C due to the size effect of silver nanoparticulates. The thermal conductivity, k, of the hybrid nanocomposite TIMs is found to be in the range of 15–140 W/mK, exceeding best-performing commercial thermal greases, while comparable to high-end solder TIMs. The dependence of k on the solid packing density and the volume fraction of voids is discussed through comparing to model predictions.

Zhihao Yang

Papers

Hybrid Nanocomposite Thermal Interface Materials: The Thermal Conductivity and the Packing Density