[thanks to 'donpat', Raging Bull APNT private member forum]

FUNCTIONALIZATION OF THERMAL MANAGEMENT MATERIALS

United States Patent Application 20130037311
Kind Code A1
JIANG; NAN ; et al. February 14, 2013

Abstract
base material or composite material such as graphite, may be combined with another material, such as aluminum oxide or polyimide, to produce a new insulating thermal management material. The base material may be impregnated with another metal to create a composite base material.

Inventors:
JIANG; NAN; (Austin, TX) ; YANIV; ZVI; (Austin, TX)

Assignee:
APPLIED NANOTECH HOLDINGS, INC.
Austin
TX

Serial No.:
570612
Series Code: 13
Filed: August 9, 2012

Claims
1. A composite comprising: a substrate with a high thermal conductivity: a dielectric layer on the graphitic substrate; and an electrical circuit on the dielectric layer.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
[0002] Thermal management materials with high thermal conductivity, high thermal diffusivity, machineability, and/or low coefficient of thermal expansion ("CTE") at low cost are desirable. For many electronic applications, it would be beneficial if the material were not electrically conductive so that electronic components could be assembled directly onto the high thermal conductivity material. Typically, however, materials with high thermal conductivity are also electrically conductive. For example, carbon-based materials, such as graphite and graphene, typically have high thermal conductivity, but they are electrically conductive. It would he desirable to have a high thermal conductivity (e.g., approximately 250 W/m-K-450 W/m-K) material, such as a graphite-based material, that incorporated a dielectric material that was not electrically conductive. Ideally, the thickness of the dielectric material would be controllable, and the dielectric portions could be selectively patterned. This would enable applications requiring a low cost high thermal conductivity substrate, such as for LED lamps, photovoltaics, power electronics, etc.

[0003] Aspects of the invention disclosed herein combine a base material or composite, such as but not limited to graphite, with another layer. By combining a base material such as graphite with another subsequent material (e.g., aluminum or polyimide) a new insulating thermal management material is created.

[0004] The base material may be a number of different types of materials, including the use of graphite material, or the use of a porous graphite material that has been previously impregnated with a metal (e.g., using a high pressure and/or high temperature process) creating a composite base material.

[0005] Described herein are examples of using graphite as the base material and aluminum or polyimide as the second material, with the understanding that this concept can be extended to other material combinations.

http://is.gd/qVIyYE
http://www.patent2pdf.com/pdf/20130037311.pdf