Electricity: electrical systems and devices – Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical... – For electronic systems and devices
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-30
2002-04-23
Picard, Leo P. (Department: 2835)
Electricity: electrical systems and devices
Housing or mounting assemblies with diverse electrical...
For electronic systems and devices
C361S707000, C361S719000, C361S722000, C165S080300, C174S016300, C257S707000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06377460
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic circuit module having at least one electronic component and a heat sink, which is thermally connected to the at least one electronic component. An intermediate layer is provided between the electronic component and the heat sink, with the result that a thermal conduction path is formed between the at least one electronic component and the heat sink. The intermediate layer adjoins a first surface of the heat sink.
Such a configuration is in principle known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,799. However, such a configuration is only inadequately suited to compensate for production tolerances and different thicknesses of the individual components in such an electronic circuit module. Also, this conventional configuration cannot guarantee a sufficient thermal connection between the electronic components and the heat sink. This is illustrated diagrammatically in FIG.
1
. The electronic circuit module illustrated in
FIG. 1
has three electronic components
3
,
4
,
5
, which are mounted onto a carrier
6
, for example a printed circuit board. A thermal conduction path to a heat sink
1
is established via an intermediate layer
2
. However, if, as shown in
FIG. 1
, one of the electronic components, such as in this case the component
4
, has for example a smaller height than the other electronic components
3
,
5
, then the continuous intermediate layer
2
can compensate for these height differences only inadequately, or not at all, with the result that only an inadequate thermal connection, or no thermal connection at all, can be established between the electronic component
4
and the heat sink
1
.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,501 describes a configuration including two boundary layers configured in a partially flexible manner. Thermally conductive spring elements are provided between the boundary layers which can be introduced between a heat sink and electronic components in order to compensate for height tolerances of the electronic components and to establish a thermal connection between the components and the heat sink. However, forming such a thermal connection necessitates connecting different layers to one another in a complicated production method. As a result of this, thermal contact resistances are produced at each of the interfaces, that reduce the efficiency of the thermal connection. Furthermore, the production of such a structure requires the use of expensive materials and requires several photo and patterning processes, which likewise make the structure more expensive to produce.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a configuration which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known configurations of this general type and which guarantees an improved thermal connection between electronic components of a circuit module and a heat sink.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, an electronic circuit module, including:
at least one electronic component;
a heat sink having a surface and being thermally connected to the at least one electronic component;
pillars formed of a flexible, thermally conductive material, the pillars forming an island-like structure as an intermediate layer adjoining the surface of the heat sink, the pillars establishing a thermal conduction path between the at least one electronic component and the heat sink.
In other words, a first embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic circuit module in which an intermediate layer between electronic components and a heat sink is configured in such a way that it has an island-like structure formed from pillars of a flexible, thermally conductive material. The advantage of such a structure is that it can compensate much better for production tolerances and height differences within the electronic circuit module and, consequently, can guarantee a good thermal connection between each electronic component of the circuit module and the heat sink. By way of example, the island-like configuration of the pillars allows the pillars to be compressed to a greater extent in the region of higher components, in which case the flexible material (in contrast to a continuous, flexible layer) can then yield into the interspaces of the island-like structure, that is to say into the interspaces between the pillars, and thus fill the interspaces to a large extent. The flexible material of such an island-like structure can thus be compressed to a significantly higher degree in the region of higher components and, consequently, can compensate for significantly larger height differences. This ensures that the intermediate layer can also be pressed onto electronic components having a relatively small height within the circuit module, thereby guaranteeing a thermal connection even to these components.
With the objects of the invention in view there is also provided, a heat sink configuration for an electronic circuit module with at least one electronic component, including:
a heat sink having a surface; and
a coating provided at least on the surface, the coating being formed of pillars of a flexible, thermally conductive material, and the pillars forming an island-like structure.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the island-like structure has a first total cross-sectional area parallel to the surface. The pillars have, when the heat sink is in a mounted position, a second total cross-sectional area parallel to the surface, and the second total cross-sectional area is between 50% and 90% of the first total cross-sectional area.
With the objects of the invention in view there is also provided, in combination with an electronic circuit module having at least one electronic component, a heat sink configuration which includes a heat sink having a surface; a coating provided at least on the surface, the coating being formed of pillars of a flexible, thermally conductive material, the pillars forming an island-like structure; the island-like structure having a first total cross-sectional area parallel to the surface, the pillars having, in a region between the at least one electronic component and the heat sink, a second total cross-sectional area parallel to the surface; and the pillars and the island-like structure have a given geometry selected such that, after the heat sink is mounted onto the electronic circuit module, the second total cross-sectional area is between 50% and 90% of the first total cross-sectional area.
With the objects of the invention in view there is further provided, a carrier sheet configuration, including a carrier sheet having a surface; and a coating provided at least on the surface, the coating being formed of pillars of a flexible, thermally conductive material, and the pillars forming an island-like structure.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the island-like structure has a first total cross-sectional area parallel to the surface and the pillars have a second total cross-sectional area parallel to the surface; and the pillars and the island-like structure have a given geometry selected such that, after compression of the flexible, thermally conductive material perpendicularly to the surface of the carrier sheet, the second total cross-sectional area is between 50% and 90% of the first total cross-sectional area.
As described above, U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,501 teaches a configuration which has a reduced thermal efficiency and which requires the use of expensive materials and several photo and patterning processes. The intermediate layer according to the invention, by contrast, can be produced cost effectively in a single process step, for example a printing process, wherein extremely inexpensive materials can be used. In such a printing process, specifically, the thermal contact resistance between the flexible material and the heat sink, for example, can additionally be advantageously decreased since, when the flexible material is printed onto the he
Hippe Andreas
Pohl Jens
Thamm Gerolf
Datskovsky Michael
Greenberg Laurence A.
Infineon - Technologies AG
Lerner Herbert L.
Picard Leo P.
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