Surface Treatment of AlN Filler for Improvement of Reliability in Silicone Resin Composites

To release heat of integrated circuits and power devices, thermal interface material (TIM) is used as a heat conductor between a heat source and a heat sink. The increasing of the thermal conductivity of the fillers is necessary to increase the thermal conductivity of TIMs. Aluminum nitride (AIN) is expected to be used as a filler for TIM by high thermal conductivity. However, the storage test of the silicone resin composite consisted with AlN fillers was reduced reliability due to hydrolyses of AlN fillers. Hydrophobic surface treatment was applied to the AlN fillers to suppress hydrolysis of AIN. As a result, the reliability of the silicone resin composite consisted with the prepared surface treated AlN fillers was improved.