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Electronic devices and components generate heat during operation, and this heat must be effectively removed to ensure proper performance and reliability. This is where thermal management solutions like thermal pads come into play. Despite it sounding relatively straightforward, it’s a much more complex task than that.
In this blog post, we’ll explore what thermal management entails, why it is so important in electronics, the consequences of poor thermal management, and solutions offered by industry leader Parker Chomerics.
Modus Advanced is proud to partner with Parker Chomerics to bring our customers the highest quality materials. Your life-saving and life-changing products demand the best. Not sure where to start? Reach out, and our expert team will work with you every step of the way.
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Parker Chomerics EMI Shielding Material Guide
What is Thermal Management?
Thermal management refers to the ability to control the operating temperature of a device or system by transferring excess heat away from heat-generating components.
This allows electronics to remain within safe operating temperatures and prevents issues like throttling, shutdowns, damage, and performance degradation. Effective thermal management ensures electronics meet performance, lifespan, and reliability expectations.
Why Effective Thermal Management is Crucial in Electronics
The trend in modern electronics is increased power in smaller form factors. This leads to higher heat densities that must be dissipated. Without effective cooling, this concentration of heat can rapidly spike chip temperatures beyond safe limits during operation.
Thermal management is particularly critical for devices like LED lights that can generate lots of localized heat. High temperatures also make electronics more prone to issues like electromigration and gate oxide breakdown that progressively damage circuits over time. Maintaining safe operating temperatures via thermal management is key to achieving expected performance and product lifetimes.
Consequences of Poor Thermal Management
Inadequate thermal management and elevated operating temperatures can lead to a number of issues:
- Temporary throttling/shutdowns – To prevent immediate damage from overheating, electronics may throttle performance or shut down entirely. This leads to lag, freezing, random restarts, and other disruptive issues.
- Premature failure – Excess heat accelerates many failure mechanisms in electronics, including electrochemical migration, metal corrosion, and breakdown of insulating films. This greatly shortens product lifespan if temperatures are not controlled.
- Intermittent faults – Temperature swings can intermittently cause connections to fail as metal/plastic parts expand/contract and make/break connections. This can cause mysterious gremlins in affected devices.
- Performance degradation – As transistors heat up, increased leakage currents lead to timing errors along with reduced switching speeds and responsiveness. This incremental degradation only gets worse over time if heat is left unchecked.
Keeping electronics cool via proper thermal management practices is indispensable to achieving expected performance metrics and product lifetimes. Read on – we’re about to introduce cutting-edge thermal management solutions from industry leader Parker Chomerics.
Types Of Parker Chomerics Thermal Materials
Parker Chomerics is a leading provider of thermal interface materials (TIMs), which are used to transfer heat away from electronic components and other heat-generating devices. TIMs play a crucial role in electronic cooling, helping to prevent overheating and ensuring optimal performance and reliability.
Parker Chomerics offers a wide range of TIMs to meet the needs of a variety of applications. These materials can be classified into four main categories:
- Thermal interface gels: These gels are highly conformable and provide low thermal impedance. They are ideal for filling variable gaps between multiple components and a common heat sink.
- Thermal interface pads: These pads are available in a variety of thicknesses and thermal conductivities. They are easy to install and can be used to gap fill between components and heat sinks, or to provide electrical insulation. It’s worth noting, that for the purposes of this blog, we’ll use the term “thermal pad” to describe cut-to-size thermal interface materials. Keep in mind the industry is full of other terms such as thermal conductive pad, cpu thermal pad, thermal heat pads, not to mention specific brand name products such as The Bergquist Company’s (now part of Henkel) popular “Gap Pad” and Fujipoly’s “Sarcon Thermal Gap Filler Pads”.
- Cure-in-place potting and underfill materials: These materials are dispensed as liquids and then cured to form a solid elastomer. They are ideal for applications where conformal cooling and/or electrical insulation is required.
- Phase change materials: These materials absorb and release heat as they change phase from solid to liquid. They can be used to provide thermal buffering and prevent overheating.
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The Essential Guide to Thermal Management Materials
Parker Chomerics offers a wide range of TIMs to choose from, with thermal conductivities ranging from 0.8 W/m-K to 3.0 W/m-K. The company also offers a variety of specialized TIMs, such as materials that are designed for use in extreme environments or that provide electrical insulation.
Here are some examples of Parker Chomerics TIMs and their applications:
- THERM-A-GAP™ GELs: These gels are ideal for applications where low thermal impedance and high conformability are required. They are often used to cool electronic components such as microprocessors, memory chips, and power transistors.
- THERM-A-GAP™ Pads: These pads are available in a variety of thicknesses and thermal conductivities. They are often used to gap fill between components and heat sinks, or to provide electrical insulation.
- THERM-A-FORM™ Potting and Underfill Materials: These materials are often used to cool and protect electronic components in harsh environments. They are also used to provide electrical insulation.
- Phase Change Materials: These materials are often used to provide thermal buffering and to prevent overheating. They are often used in applications such as battery packs and power electronics modules.
Parker Chomerics TIMs are used in a wide range of applications, including:
- Telecommunications: Electronic equipment such as routers, switches, and servers.
- Information technology: Computers, laptops, and other IT devices.
- Consumer electronics: Smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices.
- Power conversion: Power supplies, converters, and other power electronics equipment.
- Industrial automation: Programmable logic controllers (PLCs), inverters, and other industrial automation equipment.
- Military and aerospace: Electronic systems used in aircraft, spacecraft, and other military and aerospace applications.
Modus Advanced is fortunate enough to partner with industry leaders in the defense, aerospace, medical device, and emerging technologies spaces. As such, we see a lot of requests for Parker Chomerics materials, and it stands to reason that it’s because their product is second to none.
Parker Chomerics is a trusted provider of high-quality TIMs that are used by leading companies around the world. If you are looking for a TIM that can meet the demands of your application, there’s a very high chance that Parker Chomerics has a solution for you.
How To Select The Best Thermal Material
When choosing a Thermal Interface Material, it is important to consider the following factors:
- Thermal conductivity: This is a measure of the material's ability to transfer heat. Higher thermal conductivity materials will provide better cooling performance.
- Compressibility: This is a measure of how much the material will deform under pressure. Highly compressible materials are ideal for applications where variable gaps need to be filled.
- Electrical conductivity: Some TIMs are electrically conductive, while others are electrically insulating. The type of TIM required will depend on the specific application.
- Operating temperature range: TIMs have different operating temperature ranges. It is important to choose a material that is compatible with the operating temperatures of the components being cooled.
Consulting with an experienced vendor can significantly improve the material selection process. Look for one that has the appropriate safety and quality certifications, is vertically integrated, and can support prototype to production volumes.
The Dream Team: Modus Advanced + Parker Chomerics
We’re sure you can tell by now – we think thermal management materials from Parker Chomerics are second to none. They offer a wide variety of materials that can meet even the most stringent specs.
With Parker Chomerics thermal management materials in mind now, all that’s left is to find a thermal management partner. We’ll make it simple for you! At Modus Advanced, we’ve got 40+ years of experience, a top-tier team of engineers, and vertically integrated manufacturing processes that can tackle your project with ease. Reduce the headache of multiple vendors and see how our Idea to Ignition process can streamline your next project.
Request a quote to get started.
