Scottsdale, Arizona, February 17, 2009
New Comparative Study on PCB Performance for High Brightness LED Applications
The results of a study conducted by DuPont High Performance Laminates and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan were presented on March 11, 2009 at the IMAPS 5th International Conference and Exhibition on Device Packaging ( http://www.imaps.org/devicepackaging/ ) in Scottsdale, Arizona. This study compares the thermal performance of DuPont™ CooLam™ metal core printed circuit boards to existing thermal laminates. The study reveals that CooLam™ has a 40% - 70% lower thermal resistance than incumbent solutions.
Abstract - Benchmark Study of Metal Core Thermal Laminates
New applications such as the use of High Brightness Light Emitting Diodes (HB-LED’s) for general lighting have brought about significant demand for thin dielectric materials laminated to metal substrates such as aluminum and copper. Conventional FR-4 printed wiring laminates have limited thermal performance due to the poor thermal conductivity. To maximize thermal performance, it is necessary to minimize the thermal resistance of the laminate structure. To accomplish this, the thermal conductivity of the dielectric must be maximized and the dielectric thickness must be minimized. To meet these thermal needs for LED applications, DuPont has developed the CooLam™ series of dielectric laminates. These materials are designed for applications requiring low thermal resistance resulting in low semiconductor junction temperature for long operating life and high reliability. This paper summarizes the results of a benchmark study comparing the thermal performance of DuPont™ CooLam™ and three competitive structures measuring Junction-to-Case Thermal Resistance (Èjc) and using thermal impedance as a figure of merit for comparing thermal performance of substrates, a primary metric commonly used in the LED packaging industry. To ensure uniform and unbiased results all test samples were fabricated by the same PWB fabricator and the testing was conducted by an independent laboratory. The material properties, test structures and the test method will be described in detail for five combinations of dielectric and metal substrates.
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