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EP-4623647-B1 - A THERMAL CONDUCTOR COMPONENT

EP4623647B1EP 4623647 B1EP4623647 B1EP 4623647B1EP-4623647-B1

Inventors

  • NOUR, Yasser A. A.
  • THANH, Hoà Lê
  • AMMAR, Ahmed Morsi

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240314

Claims (15)

  1. A thermal guide electrical component (100) configured for conducting heat between a first area (203) and a second area (202) comprising: a fourth silicon substrate portion (104); a third portion (103), wherein the third portion (103) is at least one layer of an electrically isolative portion deposited on the fourth silicon substrate portion (104); and at least two first portions (101; 102), wherein the at least two first portions (101; 102) are electrically conductive connector portions connectable to the first area (203) and the second area (202) respectively and deposited on the third portion (103); wherein the thermal guide electrical component (100) is configured to transfer a principal heat portion from the first area (203) through the third portion (103) to the fourth silicon substrate portion (104), further through the fourth silicon substrate portion (104) to the second area (202) via the third portion (103); characterized in that the third portion (103) forms an electrical barrier, wherein the electrical barrier isolates the at least two first portions (101; 102) and the fourth silicon substrate portion (104) from each other.
  2. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to claim 1, wherein the thermal guide electrical component (100) further comprises a second portion (105), wherein the second portion (105) is a thermally conductive and non-electrically conductive, and wherein the second portion (105) is deposited between the at least two first portions (101;102) and the third portion (103).
  3. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to claim 2, wherein at least one trench (109) is etched within the second portion (105), and wherein the at least two first portions (101;102) are deposited on the second portion (105) and wherein the at least one trench (109) is filled with the at least two first portions (101;102).
  4. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to claim 3, wherein the at least one trench (109) has a trench depth, and wherein the trench depth is lower than a second portion thickness, such that the at least one trench penetrates the second portion (105) down to 10 %, preferably 20 %, more preferably 50 %, even more preferably 75 %, most preferably 90 % of the second portion thickness.
  5. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of claims 2-4, wherein the second portion (105) is configured to assist in transferring the principal heat from the at least two first portions (101; 102) to the third portion (103), thereby assisting the fourth silicon substrate portion (104) in transferring the principal heat from the first area (203) to the second area (202).
  6. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least two first portions (101; 102) are made of an electrically conductive material, preferably a solderable material, and preferably a metal, such as Copper (Cu).
  7. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second portion (105) is thicker where in contact with the at least two first portions (101;102).
  8. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the thermally conductive and non-electrically conductive second portion (105) is made with a material comprising aluminium, such as aluminium oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) and/or aluminium nitride (AIN).
  9. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the electrically isolative third portion (103) is made with a material comprising silicon, such as silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) and/or silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ).
  10. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the thermal guide electrical component (100) further comprises a fifth portion (106) arranged or deposited between the third portion (103) and the fourth substrate portion (104), wherein the fifth portion (106) is a diffusion barrier layer.
  11. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the fourth silicon substrate portion (104) has a fourth silicon substrate portion thickness between 100 and 525 µm.
  12. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the second portion thickness is between 20 and 400 nm.
  13. The thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the third portion (103) has a third portion thickness between 0.1 and 5 µm.
  14. A method (300) of conducting heat between a first area (203) and a second area (202) comprising the steps of: providing (301) a thermal guide electrical component (100) according to claim 1; connecting one (102) of the at least two first portions (101; 102) to the first area (203) and the second one (101) of the at least two first portions (101; 102) to the second area (202); conducting heat between the first area (203) and the second area (202).
  15. The method (300) according to claim 14, wherein the thermal guide electrical component (100) is the thermal guide electrical component (100) according to any one of claims 2-13.

Description

The present disclosure relates to a thermal conductor component (Q-guide) configured for efficiently conducting heat between a first and a second area in an electronic system. Background In smart electronic systems, for example, internet of things (IoT) devices, light-emitting diode (LED) lightings, and other consumer electronic products, a general trend is that an increasing number of functions is packed into a limited space. These systems consequently require squeezing the different integrated circuits together, and preferably as close as possible. One challenge with developing smaller electronic systems where integrated circuits are arranged very close to each other and sometimes stacked on top of each other is the thermal performance. In battery-operated devices, for example, good thermal performance is key to a safe operation and a long battery life, especially for portable devices. Significant amounts of heat can also affect the reliability of an electronic device, or even cause it to fail. The build-up of heat can ultimately affect the functional life of the electronic device. The prior art often employs fans, heat sinks, liquid cooling devices or, in a smaller scale, Q-guide thermal conductors, mainly constructed with aluminium nitride or beryllium oxide, as means of reducing heat build-up in electronic devices. One issue with the Q-guide thermal conductors is that they generally are manufactured using one-piece construction, providing a RoHS-compliant SMT package. In some specific applications where space optimization is key, they might not fulfil the needs of the electronic system. US 2022/359389 A1 discloses a surface-mountable thin-film fuse component that may include a substrate having a top surface, a first end, and a second end that is spaced apart from the first end in a longitudinal direction. The thin-film component may include a fuse layer formed over the top surface of the substrate. The fuse layer may include a thin-film fuse track. An external terminal may be disposed along the first end of the substrate and electrically connected with the thin-film fuse track. The external terminal may include a compliant layer comprising a conductive polymeric composition. WO 2019/060402 A1 discloses a thermal connector comprising an electrically insulating beam having a first end face at a first end and a second end face at a second end. The second end face may be opposite the first end face in an X direction. The beam may have a width in a Y direction perpendicular to the X direction. The beam may also have a top face and a bottom face offset from the top face in a Z direction. The thermal connector may include a first terminal attached to the bottom face and adjacent the first end and a second terminal attached to the top face and adjacent the first end. The connector may have an overall thickness in the Z direction, which includes the first and second terminals and is greater than 1.27 mm and less than 3.81 mm. US 2022/029262 A1 discloses a coupler having improved power handling for RF and thermal bridge applications. Summary Thus, there exists a need for building a thermal guide device with a high thermal conductivity and a scalable size which would fit any applications, with cheaper materials. As disclosed herein, this can be achieved by a thermal guide electrical component according to claim 1. One advantage of providing a thermal guide electrical component on a silicon substrate is that the manufacturing can be achieved in a cheaper way. The size of the thermal guide electrical component can also be adjusted in order to fit any application. The manufacturing process is similar to the manufacturing process of integrated circuits manufactured on a silicon substrate, which makes the thermal guide electrical component being potentially manufactured following the same methods. This may decrease the price compared to current thermal guide electrical component, which are mainly manufactured with an aluminium oxide-based or beryllium oxide structure. The manufacturing of an aluminium oxide-based or beryllium oxide structure is also costly compared to manufacturing of electrical components based on a silicon substrate. The third portion may, preferably, be an electrically isolative portion configured such that the at least two first portions are electrically isolated from the fourth silicon substrate portion. The third portion may advantageously comprise a material that would increase the thermal conductivity of the thermal guide electrical component. The portions, such as the at least two first portions and/or the third portion as described herein, can be arranged or deposited on other portions, such as the at least two first portions, the third portion and/or the fourth silicon substrate portion. A portion being arranged may have an equivalent meaning as a portion being deposited, in the field of microelectronics, such as for the thermal guide electrical component as disclosed herein. The term "arra