Thermal management has always been a major concern in the design of high frequency, high power electronic devices.
For example, historically, in many power amplifier designs, the vast majority of the power that needs to be dissipated is from the high power field effect transistors, or FET's, themselves. In these cases, the high power dissipation often requires direct attachment of the FET's to a heat sink of some type.
Heat sinks have become almost essential to modern central processing units and other electronic devices.
» Thanks to their good thermal conductivity, copper and aluminum are among the most frequently used materials for this purpose with electronic devices.
» In addition, synthetic diamond cooling sinks have been developed to provide better cooling.
» Further, some heat sinks are constructed of more than one material with desirable features, such as phase change materials. Such materials can store a great deal of energy due to their heat of fusion.
However, while many of these materials provide heat sink features, they do not address other needs of the device, such as electrical insulation. Hence, in order to address present needs, researchers as well as plastic manufacturers are developing advanced conductive polymer solutions.
Continue reading to understand various sectors benefiting from electronics applications and importance of thermal management and new developments in materials fulfilling these needs...