Characterization of Thermal Contact Resistance in Metal Micro-Textured Thermal Interface Materials Using Electrical Contact Resistance Measurements

A novel Metal Micro-Textured Thermal Interface Material (MMT-TIM) has been developed to address a number of shortcomings in conventional TIMs. This material consists of a thin metal foil with raised micro-scale features that plastically deform under an applied pressure thereby creating a continuous, thermally conductive, path between the mating surfaces. One of the difficulties in experimentally characterizing MMT-TIMs however, is …