Advanced thermal management materials for heat sinks used in microelectronics

Thermal management materials used for heat sink in laptop computers is reviewed in this paper. In laptop computers, heat sink plays a vital role of dissipating heat from the system. Heat sink is a vital component in a laptop computer because it dissipates the heat generated by the system. The overall efficiency, cost, and size of the system could be influenced by the heat sink device. Four selection criteria; thermal conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion, density, and cost were abducted for selecting a laptop computer heat sink material in this paper. An ideal heat sink material exhibits high thermal conductivity, low coefficient of thermal expansion, low density, and low cost. Aluminium and copper are mainly used for laptop computer heat sinks. Aluminium is used where weight reduction is needed while copper is used when weight is not considered as a major factor. However, the high demand for materials with low coefficient of thermal expansion and high thermal conductivity is due to the use of ceramic materials for substrates. Aluminium and copper fall short of the required coefficient of thermal expansion hence the need for advance composite materials. Based on the four selection criteria for a laptop computer heat sink material, Al/SiC has superior property potentials and is recommended as a near optimum material for this purpose.