Self–healing Thermal Interface Materials

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are widely used as gap–filler materials between electronic devices such as LEDs and ICs and their heat sink and aim to control the heat dissipation and to provide mechanical anchoring. As the rated power densities of electronic devices are increasing rapidly, the TIMS are exposed to higher thermal and mechanical loads. The resulting aging of the TIMs may lead to delamination and internal crack formation causing loss of heat transfer as well as mechanical integrity leading to premature device failure. Therefore there is an increased demand for efficient and reliable TIM which can avoid, or even better, mitigate this thermomechanical damage. This thesis aims to contribute to the introduction of self–healing concepts into polymer–based TIMs to increase their reliability and service lifetime. As such, each chapter targets one of the scientific issues that are related to the development of commercial self–healing TIMs.