In situ testing of metal micro-textured thermal interface materials in telecommunications applications

Abstract

A metal micro-textured thermal interface material (MMT-TIM) has been developed to address the shortcomings of conventional TIMs for Remote Radio Heat (RRH) applications. The performance of the MMT-TIM was characterized in-situ by monitoring the temperatures of the dominant heat generating devices in an RRH Power Amplifier for a fixed input power. Measurements show that the use of the MMT-TIM results in significantly lower devices temperatures than achieved with the conventionally used graphite pads with a maximum temperature drop of 14.9 °C observed. The effect of power cycling on the long term performance trends is also examined. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.