Spherical boron nitride fillers for high performance thermal greases

Highly efficient thermal interface materials (TIMs) have become necessary to effectively manage the increasing heat generated at the silicon level with every new generation of microprocessors. Typically, TIMs consist of polymers that are highly loaded with thermally conductive fillers. Boron nitride (BN) fillers have been employed as a thermal conductive filler for TIMs for decades. However, conventional boron nitride fillers were largely anisotropic in nature. A novel spherical BN filler is presented as an isotropic thermally conductive filler for TIMs and the thermal and reliability performance characteristics of spherical BN filled high thermal performance greases are described.