Improvement of interfacial thermal resistance between TIMs and copper for better thermal management

Due to the increasing power consumption of modern electronic devices and rapid rise in heat generation, how to efficiently manage the heat dissipation becomes a challenge. The previous studies have shown the importance of interface treatment for better thermal management while the mechanism is lacking yet. Here, we study the interface thermal transport between the thermal interface materials (TIMs) and the copper substrate using both experimental measurements and theoretical calculations. The results show that after interface treatment, the thermal contact resistance between the graphite materials and copper decreases from 87.96 K · mm2 · W−1 to 20.26 K · mm2 · W−1. For the practical testing, a difference up to 7 ○C is demonstrated between the treated and untreated samples, indicating the potential of reduction of thermal contact resistance for the heat dissipation in electronic devices, which is verified in our theoretical calculation as well. Our study provides an applicable approach to enhancing the thermal stability in electronic devices by investigating the impact of the interfacial thermal resistance on heat dissipation.