WHAT IS THERMAL PASTE?

Thermal paste is a kind of thermal conductive compound.

Thermal paste is thermally conductive, but Electrically

insulating.

And also know as,

Thermal Grease
CPU Grease
Heat sink paste
Thermal Compound
Thermal Gel
Thermal Interface Material (TIM)
 WHERE DO USE ? WHY DO USE?
Where do use thermal paste?
Wherever the power modules are coming ,there we have to use thermal paste .In between heat
sink & Power modules. Thermal Paste is thermal interface material .
(High Power semiconductor devices or the electronics component which creating more heat).

Why power modules producing heat?

When in power modules operation, the power modules are producing the losses,
these losses coming out in terms of temperature. The excess amount of losses increasing the
temperature .This temperature will affect the module lifetime ,so we have to dissipate this
temperature.
Why do use heat sink ?
Heat sink is highly thermal conductive material ,which has more thermal conductivity (aluminum
,copper etc) & more surface area. which will dissipate the heat in terms of convection &
radiation .
To dissipate the heat that builds up in power modules ,we have to mount the power modules on
heat sink.
Role of Thermal paste ?
The main role of thermal paste is to eliminate the air gap .
Increasing the heat transfer.
Why do we eliminate the air gap?
Because the air gaps are acting like a thermal insulator.
This air gap reducing the heat transfer.
Why air gap is acting like a thermal insulator?
Because air has poor thermal conductivity thats why air gaps are acting like a thermal insulator.
specific thermal conductivity of air is air 0.03 W/mK
How air gaps are coming?
Because of uneven surface contacts the air gaps are coming.
Is heat transfer depending on the surface contact?
Yes, the heat-dissipating surface of the power module and the heat sink surface depends on the
surface quality of the different surfaces. If both the surfaces are not even or any one of the
surface is not even ,then the result is trapping air gap.
Surface contact of heat sink & power
source
How to avoid air gaps between heat sink & power modules?
Keep the surface of both power module & Heat sink surface contact even surface .If its is uneven
surface then use thermal interface material.
Thermal interface material will avoid the air gap & will increase the heat transfer.
Note: Thermal Interface material wont increase the mechanical strength in-between power
source & Heat sink. It will increase only heat transfer.
What are the form of Thermal Interface material (TIM)?
Thermal Interface Material is coming inform of paste or grease, Pad, Films.
Composition of Thermal Paste ?
Thermal paste consist of a polymerizable liquid matrix & thermally conductive fillers.
This fillers are electrically insulating, thermally conducting.
Why should we use Thermal paste? Why cant we use Thermal Pad & Films?
Flowable matrix fillers are filling the air gap better than thermal pad & films.
Thermal paste give better phase changes we can fill any up down surfaces.
Thermal paste giving less thermal resistance compared to thermal paste & films.
In thermal paste we can achieve very thin layers ,microns can be achieved.
Is thermal paste layer does matter?
Yes, The thermal paste layer has to be as thin as possible but as thick as necessary.
If layer is too thin then it will act as thermal insulator. If it is more thick it will increase the thermal
resistance

See the blue marked area which is perfect layer thickness.Less thermal resistance & High thermal
conductance.
The thickness of the thermal paste layer is different for different power modules.
And also different for different thermal paste , all thermal paste does not have same size particle
It is mentioned on all thermal paste material .
Thermal Conductivity value for thermal paste does matter?
Yes it is matter,because the lower thermal conductivity value will give lower flow of heat trasnfer.
High thermal conductive paste will give high flow of heat transfer.
Paste thermal conductivity will decide the heat flow speed.
But the heat flow completely not depend on the thermal conductivity. Contact surface ,heat sink
material also matter. If the contact surface is not good but high thermal conductivity material
used doesnt mean the heat flow will increase .

If the thermal conductivity of thermal paste is compared with the thermal conductivity of other
components in a power module then the thermal paste does not rate particularly well.
Tantonics HY510
Semikron
Cooler master
Anabond
Arctic MX-4
Arctic silver 5
Is there any procedure for thermal paste application?
Yes, you can apply the thermal paste normal dispenser method (simply squeezing on heat sink).
But it will not give better result.
Using roller for thermal paste will give some useful result.
Using stencil mask printing will give good result than roller.
Can we measure the thermal paste layer thickness?
Yes,we can measure the thermal paste thickness by using wet film comb & wet film wheel .