Heat-Sink compound/ Thermal Foam/ Tightening Torque

Heat-sink Compound/ Thermal Grease / Thermal paste are materials that are applied between the
interface of two components to fill up any gaps, ensure smooth contact and allow heat transfer to
occur efficiently. These compounds are thermally conductive but electrically isolating.

Electronic packaging and heat-sink may seemingly have smooth surfaces. However, if one was to
look at them microscopically than surface roughness become apparent. The surface roughness has
ridges and troughs which cause gaps between the two mating surfaces. These gaps are filled up with
air, which is a poor conductor of heat. Therefore, to eliminate these tiny gaps, thermal paste is used.
The thickness of the thermal layer is in the order of microns. A layer of up to 200 microns in the
industrial practice is considered thick.

There are a variety of thermal pastes available. Some have better thermal conductivity than others.
Thermal conductivity depends upon the filler material. The filler materials include particles of
Aluminium oxide, Boron Nitride, Zinc Oxide etc. The higher the amount of filler particles in the base
matrix or the base paste, the higher will be the thermal conductivity. Thermal compounds are
available in thermal conductivity values of 0.8 W/mK to 4.5 W/mK.

The higher thermal conductivity value thermal compounds i.e. 4-8 W/mk normally utilize Silver
nano- particles and are slightly more expensive. Artic Silver 5 is an example of Silver based thermal
paste.

It should be noted that the higher quantity of filler material, the more electrical impedance is
reduced. Furthermore, it becomes difficult to achieve smaller thickness of the thermal paste layer.

Most of the thermal pastes don’t have adhesive quality and therefore the contact pressure has to be
established by means of a clamp or screw etc.

Some thermal compounds require curing time. i.e. They need certain amount of time before they
are fully set to provide best heat transfer. The curing time can be in the order of hours. Other
compounds can be used straight away.

Thermal Foams and Thermal pads are also available that provide the same functionality. They are
less expensive than thermal paste but are also less efficient. Thermal pads allow a certain degree of
compressibility. The advantage is that the foams can be reused if the electronics assembly is
disassembled. Whereas, most thermal pastes solidify and cannot be reused in case of re-assembly.

To maintain a smooth constant, not only thermal compounds are required but also certain amount
of force. The higher the pressure, the better the contact and the lower the interface resistance.
However, there is a limit to how much force can be applied because too much force can also damage
the material. Therefore for most for electronic devices that need to be connected to a heat-sink, the
tightening torque rating is specified.