Steady-state temperature solution for early design of Annealed Pyrolytic Graphite heat spreader: Full results

Abstract

The capability to efficiently transfer the heat away from high-powered electronic devices is a ceaseless challenge. More than ever, the aluminum or copper heat spreaders seem less suitable for maintaining the component sensitive temperature below manufacturer operating limits. Some emerging materials, such as Annealed Pyrolytic Graphite, are a new alternative to conventional solid conduction without the gravity dependence of a heat-pipe solution. Unfortunately, the ultrahigh performance rising of APG core is restricted to in-plane thermal conductivities which can be 200 times higher than its through-the-thickness conductivity. So a lower cross-plane thermal conductivity or a higher than anticipated interlayer thermal resistance would compromise APG-based materials as efficient heat spreaders. In order to analyze the sensitivity of these parameters on the effective thermal performances, an analytical model for predicting the temperature distribution over an APG flat-plate was developed. Its relevance was compared to numerical simulations and experiments for a set of boundary conditions.