Flexible and compliant thermal interface materials with ultrahigh thermal conductivities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10731269-B2
Application number	US-201615559260-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 17, 2016
Priority date	Mar 18, 2015
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

Inefficient dissipation of heat limits the performance of electronic devices. Thermal interface materials (TIMs) can be used in electronic devices to dissipate heat more effectively and efficiently. Nanocomposites have been prepared using functionalized boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS). The incorporation of soft-ligand functionalized BNNS in a metal matrix was used to nanofabricate kinetically-trapped nanocomposites TIMs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermal interface material, comprising:
a plurality of soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets present in a metal matrix, wherein the soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets are kinetically trapped in the metal matrix, wherein the metal matrix is selected from the group consisting of copper, silver and indium, the soft-ligand includes at least one selected from the group consisting of dithiol ligands, tert-butoxy radicals, thiosemicarbazide, adipic acid dihydrazide, terepthalic dihydrazide, and dodecanedioic dihydrazide, and the thermal interface material exhibits a thermal conductivity greater than 250 W/K·m and an elastic modulus value less than 20 GPa.

2. The thermal interface material of claim 1 , wherein the soft-ligands include at least one selected from the group consisting of thiosemicarbazide, adipic acid dihydrazide, terepthalic dihydrazide, and dodecanedioic dihydrazide.

3. The thermal interface material of claim 1 , wherein the metal matrix is copper.

4. The thermal interface material of claim 1 , wherein the thermal interface material is applied in a heat generating electronic instrument.

5. The thermal interface material of claim 4 , where the thermal interface material is provided in a thermal gap in the heat generating electronic instrument.

6. The thermal interface material of claim 4 , wherein the thermal interface material is coated on a chip within the heat generating electronic instrument.

7. A method of manufacturing a thermal interface material, comprising:
incorporating a plurality of soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets in a metal matrix using electrodeposition, wherein the soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets are kinetically trapped in the metal matrix, wherein the metal matrix is selected from the group consisting of copper, silver or indium, the soft-ligand includes at least one selected from the group consisting of dithiol ligands, tert-butoxy radicals, thiosemicarbazide, adipic acid dihydrazide, terepthalic dihydrazide, and dodecanedioic dihydrazide, and the thermal interface material exhibits a thermal conductivity greater than 250 W/K·m and an elastic modulus value less than 20 GPa.

8. The method of manufacturing of claim 7 wherein the metal matrix is copper.

9. The method of manufacturing of claim 8 wherein the plurality of soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets are dispersed in the copper metal matrix using electrocodeposition.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising cleaving h-boron nitride flakes through ultrasonication in dimethylformamide to form a plurality of boron nitride nanosheets and functionalizing the plurality of boron nitride nanosheets with a soft-ligand to form the plurality of soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising functionalizing a plurality of boron nitride nanosheets with a soft-ligand through Lewis acid-base interactions to form the plurality of soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein electrocodeposition is performed in a solution including hydrogen sulfate and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone.

13. A method of using a thermal interface material, comprising:
generating heat in an electronic instrument wherein a thermal interface material is deposited on the electronic instrument; and
cooling the electronic instrument with the thermal interface material, wherein the thermal interface material includes a plurality of soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets present in a metal matrix, wherein the soft-ligand functionalized boron nitride nanosheets are kinetically trapped in the metal matrix, wherein the metal matrix is selected from the group consisting of copper, silver and indium, the soft ligand includes at least one selected from the group consisting of dithiol ligands, tert-butoxy radicals, thiosemicarbazide, adipic acid dihydrazide, terepthalic dihydrazide, and dodecanedioic dihydrazide, and the thermal interface material exhibits a thermal conductivity greater than 250 W/K·m and an elastic modulus value less than 20 GPa.

14. The method of using the thermal interface material of claim 13 , wherein cooling is by dissipating heat via the thermal interface material in the electronic instrument.

15. The method of using the thermal interface material of claim 13 , wherein the thermal interface material is a thermal gap filler.

16. The method of using the thermal interface material of claim 13 , further comprising coating the thermal interface material on a chip and placing the chip within the electronic instrument.

Assignees

• Texas A & M Univ Sys

Inventors

• Akbulut Mustafa
• Yegin Cengiz
• Nagabandi Nirup K
• Teipel Blake

Classifications

• H10W90/736

  between a chip and a stacked lead frame, conducting package substrate or heat sink · CPC title

• H10W72/01335

  by plating, e.g. electroless plating or electroplating · CPC title

• H10W72/354

  comprising polymers · CPC title

• H10W72/353

  not comprising solid metals or solid metalloids, e.g. ceramics · CPC title

• H10W72/352

  comprising metals or metalloids, e.g. solders · CPC title