Technical Review of Characterization Methods for Thermal Interface Materials (TIM)

There is a need for standard TIM characterization technique for notebook specific applications. The current standard method, ASTM D5470 tester neglects the usage conditions encountered in mobile specific applications. In addition, characterizing "Beginning of Life" performance of TIMs is not sufficient as performance can degrade with usage. This paper emphasizes the importance of considering TIM degradation in mobile applications. Varior TIM characterization approaches prevalent in industry are discussed in this paper. There is also wide disparity in testing methodologies used across industry to evaluate its performance maps with usage. A set of characterization techniques for better TIM evaluation practices are suggested.