Complexity and power density in electronic systems are continuously increasing during the past decades, moreover the dimension of components is shrinking to tens of nanometers causing hotspots in chips. Thermal management, therefore, becomes a critical issue for next generation of electronics. Due to its unique atomic structure with sp2 hybrid orbitals, graphene has an extraordinarily high thermal conductivity which has been reported to be up to 5000 W/m∙K [1]. As a consequence, the use of graphene-based materials for thermal management has been proposed in recent years in both academia and industry. In this research, a new type of functionalized graphene based film was developed for heat dissipation in power devices.

The surface of as-developed graphene based film was functionalized with graphene oxide, that can be bonded chemically to the device surface and thus minimizing the interface thermal resistance caused by surface roughness. A very high in-plane thermal conductivity with a maximum value of 1600 W/m∙K was detected by laser flash machine for the graphene-based films. To investigate the structure of the graphene-based films, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy characterization were carried out. Finally, LED demonstrators were fabricated to illustrate the thermal performance of the graphene based films and the functional layers. IR camera recorded a 5°C lower temperature of a LED demonstrator with the graphene based films compared to the one with commercial thermal interface materials.

Complexity and power density in electronic systems are continuously increasing during the past decades, moreover the dimension of components is shrinking to tens of nanometers causing hotspots in chips. Thermal management, therefore, becomes a critical issue for next generation of electronics. Due to its unique atomic structure with sp2 hybrid orbitals, graphene has an extraordinarily high thermal conductivity which has been reported to be up to 5000 W/m∙K [1]. As a consequence, the use of graphene-based materials for thermal management has been proposed in recent years in both academia and industry. In this research, a new type of functionalized graphene based film was developed for heat dissipation in power devices.

The surface of as-developed graphene based film was functionalized with graphene oxide, that can be bonded chemically to the device surface and thus minimizing the interface thermal resistance caused by surface roughness. A very high in-plane thermal conductivity with a maximum value of 1600 W/m∙K was detected by laser flash machine for the graphene-based films. To investigate the structure of the graphene-based films, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy characterization were carried out. Finally, LED demonstrators were fabricated to illustrate the thermal performance of the graphene based films and the functional layers. IR camera recorded a 5°C lower temperature of a LED demonstrator with the graphene based films compared to the one with commercial thermal interface materials.