Thermal Interface

It is vital to have the most suitable interface material to address or your design parameters.

In addition to our standard Interface products, Cooling Source works with a variety of Thermal Interface Material suppliers including Chomerics, Laird, Bergquist, Honeywell and Fujipoly.

Each thermal interface material supplier we work with offers global support for a variety of Thermal Interface Materials.

We can assist you in designing-in the correct interface material for your specific application.

Double Sided PSA

• Pressure Sensitive Adhesive used to adhere heatsink to the heat source
• Easy to assemble, pull tabs available on most materials
• Need to select a specific tape for mounting surface i.e. metal, plastic, ceramic, silicon, etc. Typically .005 – 0.10” thick

Single Sided PSA (SSA Single Sided Adhesive, alternative terminology)

• Provides Interface adhered to the heatsink only
• Mechanical fastening of the heatsink is needed i.e push pins, wire clips, band clips, screws, plastic clip, etc. Typically .005 –o.10” thick
• Graphite- Commonly used on AC/DC converters, usually .005” and .10” thick

PCM

• Phase Change Material, higher performance TIM that reflows with heat to fill all the interface voids, difficult to apply, usually supplied with a pull tab/release liner. Typically 0.002 -0.004” thick

Gap Filler

• Typically .200” and thicker pad with some compressibility, used to fill varying gap sized, mechanical fastening is required

Epoxy

• Thermally loaded filler adhesive system, provides permanent and strong mechanical attachment
• Often not favored by assemblers due the possible prep work and inability to rework

Grease

• Excellent thermals, void filling capability and very thin interface, mechanical attachment required, contamination. Typically .001” – 0.002” thick
• Can be silk screened on by the factory but parts need covers to prevent dust and dirt contamination. Typically .001” -.002” thick

Pull Tabs

• Release liner feature which makes assembly much easier, not available on all TIM’s