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Thermal Management Conference Tackles FR-4 Alternatives
October 1, 2010 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Removing heat has become a major issue as more highly-integrated devices are jammed into less space. At the same time, high-power devices, such as LEDs, are becoming increasingly common, forcing designers and manufacturers to figure out how to keep their products cool.
For some high-power systems, product developers are looking at alternatives to common circuit boards, proposing a switch to materials that transfer heat much better than fiberglass. The rapid growth of white LEDs is a key driving factor.
"The brightness of an LED depends on its temperature," said Greg Smith, Director of Sales and Marketing at Milplex Circuit Canada Inc. "High-power LEDs generate a lot of heat. Typically, a LED that is too bright to look at requires some kind of thermal transfer away from the mounting pas for it to maintain its brightness and longevity."
He noted that any design that has hot components and limited space for heat sinks and fans will benefit from these alternative substrates. "They let you run cooler with smaller packaging," Smith said.
High-brightness LEDs are starting to see use in street lamps, with a number of government programs phasing them in to trim the expense of replacing bulbs and lower ongoing utility costs. They're also beginning to make inroads in autos, where the long lifetimes and small sizes of LEDs are very attractive.
The new lights are driving significant changes in cooling requirements, but they're not the only high-power devices used in systems that may benefit from new substrates. "LEDs are the biggest part of the market, but you see the same thermal management challenges in high-end switching power supplies and under hood electronics the auto industry," Smith said.
Smith will describe new approaches to this challenge during the upcoming IPC Technology Interchange on Thermal Management. The conference, to be held November 3, 2010 in Irvine, California, will cover a number of thermal management techniques that can be used in PCB design from concept to manufacturing. Speakers from Mentor Graphics, Integral Technology make up a technology workshop, while representatives from Dyconex, Saturn Electronics, Delphi, Aavid Technology, Intel, Sierra Circuits, Meggitt Defense Systems and Taiyo America will speak at the conference.
There are many materials that provide better thermal traits. "There are probably 15 or more thermally conductive dielectric manufacturers who have a wide range of solutions. A number of them are Asian, in North America only four or five suppliers have the majority of the market share," Smith said.
Those alternatives overcome some of the limitations of FR-4, which has a number of positives traits that have made it the dominant substrate for electronic systems. But it's a thermal insulator, making FR-4 unattractive for very high power systems that need to remove a lot of heat, since heat can only be conducted through the backside of the device.
Though techniques are always improving, the basic concepts of cooling hot components on FR-4 remain the same as they were a decade or two ago. Heat sinks and fans are the mainstays, while liquid cooling still sits in the shadows even though it always gets a lot of interest.
Some designers have tried to conduct heat to metal backings on the other side of the FR-4 substrate, but the insulating characteristics limit the success of these approaches. There can be major thermal benefits if substrates carry heat instead of hold it.
"It's much more effective if you can take heat from the board. The same size conductors can carry more power without heating up," Smith said.
There's a fair chance that alternative substrates will see solid market growth. The volumes brought by LEDs have had a positive effect on pricing.
"There are also a lot more people competing for the same business so manufacturers have made their processes as lean as possible so they can be competitive," Smith said. "When that happens, the fabricator and the customer both win."
For more information, visit www.ipc.org. Don't miss the September issue of SMT Magazine! Find it here.