Thermal Property Measurements

The thermal properties of materials and interfaces that govern the performance, reliability, and thermal management in microelectronics packages and wide bandgap power electronics are not fully or easily characterized, especially at device length scales wherein the properties can differ significantly from bulk or literature values. This project will improve thermal property measurements for multilayer semiconductor materials and generate reliable data that feeds into thermal simulations of integrated chips and power electronics. Currently, industry relies on imprecise or assumed input thermal properties for their simulation models. This project will enhance the ability of the semiconductor industry to improve thermal management in chip and microelectronics packaging, leading to fewer thermal failures, increased functionality, and longer operational lifetimes for cell phones, computers, communication chips, and power converter/amplification chips.

Our Goals:

• Develop thermal conductivity reference standards that span the materials and property value ranges relevant to the semiconductor industry, interlaboratory comparison studies of thermal measurements, and instrumentation/measurement best practices guidelines
• Build a suite of metrology tools to evaluate, improve, and refine thermal property measurement methods, protocols, and instrumentation
• Provide on-demand, impartial, and reliable thermal property measurements for industry and CHIPS projects
• Support commercialization of advanced thermal measurement methods by working with existing vendors to customize and develop new thermal measurement instrumentation and techniques
• Provide Independent Verification & Validation measurements for critical Interagency Programs