The aim of the proposal is to develop and demonstrate a novel thermal management system with superior heat transfer performance for the high heat flux, high power radio frequency (RF) electronic systems used in today's military applications. This new thermal bonding and sealing technology will improve thermal heat conduction from high power microcircuits to their heat sink by using diamond nanoparticle paste and will have the added benefits of being a high electrical resistivity and being hydrophilic. Our design will improve the RF electronic system reliability and will be compatible with current manufacturing processes. ACTA's thermal interface material (TIM) uses a diamond nanoparticles paste to improve heat transfer and will be able to accommodate large differences in thermal expansion between the electronic part and the heat sink.
Benefit: According to IBIS World, the Circuit Manufacturing Sector is a $45.8 billion dollar business. Unfortunately the US manufacturing sector of this expanding market is in a steady declining of 2.7% every year for the past 10 years and it is forecast to continue to decline through 2015. Major sources of imports are Taiwan (17.2%), Japan (16.4%), Malaysia (11.1%), South Korea (10.2%) China (7.7%), the Philippines (7.4%) and Singapore (5.2%). The US sector is eroding in regard to the latest, state-of-the art, cutting edge manufacturing facilities because of insufficient funding, workforce challenges, and incentives from foreign governments offer attractive investment opportunities overseas for this industrial sector. But the need for smaller and more powerful microcircuits continue to grow and ACTA's technology can be an competitive advance for US manufacturing facilities and jobs.
Keywords: Thermal interface material, Thermal interface material, high electrical resistivity, diamond nanopartilces, TIM, high heat flux
