The film on substrate technique, rapid thermal characterization of the high thermal conductivity films

Lack of an efficient thermal management strategy and system can often lead to overall system failure in advanced microprocessors. This can be avoided by utilization of the high thermal conductivity materials, as heat spreader/sink, in compact packaging systems. The diamond-like dielectric materials such as diamond, silicon nitride (Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/), aluminum nitride (AlN), silicon carbide (SiC), etc, are the likely choices. However, thermal characterization of such high thermal conductivity material has proven to be challenging due to variations in fabrication process and therefore their microstructures as well as the practical difficulties in measuring small temperature gradients during the characterization process. In this paper, we will report a novel film on substrate technique that can be used conveniently for repeated measurements of the lateral thermal conductivity of the high thermal conductivity films, with thicknesses between 100 to 500 /spl mu/m.