Aluminum Nitride Thermal Interface for Improving Heat Performance of High-Power Electronic Devices

Hereafter, we present our results on the implementation of aluminum nitride (AIN) as a promising thermal interface material for improving heat performance of high-power micro- and nanoelectronic devices. The efficiency of AIN thin layers, grown in a hybrid helicon-arc ion-plasma reactor, to enhance significantly heat dissipation from crystalline heterostructures is demonstrated. As an example, we have studied high-power light-emitting diodes (LED) mounted on mm-thick aluminum substrate coated with a 3-6 μm-thick layer of aluminum nitride. Special attention is paid to the heat transport across a nanoscale AIN/A1 interface. As a result, we demonstrate an improvement of the heat sink effectiveness and stabilization of the LED operating temperature that can strongly influence design, performance, and cost of luminaires and other LED-based applications.