rogers corporation, based in burlington, mass., has developed a ceramic substrate that is bonded with copper to provide high heat conductivity with heat capacity and spreading capabilities that can be used in the thermal management of power electronics.

rogers corp. has released curamik ceramic substrates bonded with copper.
(youtube/rogers)

the curamik substrate is produced through the company’s dbc (direct bond copper) and amb (active metal brazing) technology to bond the electrically-insulating ceramic with a thick layer of copper foil.

the substrate can be made of alumina, aluminum nitride, zro­₂ doped, or silicon nitride.

according to the company website, “the high heat conductivity as well as the high heat capacity and thermal spreading of the thick copper cladding makes curamik substrates indispensable to power electronics. the mechanical stress on silicon chips mounted directly on the substrate (chip on board) is very low, since the coefficient of thermal expansion (cte) of the ceramic substrate is better matched to the cte of silicon compared to substrates using a metal or a plastic basis.”

the ceramic substrates come in 5-inch by 7-inch or 5.5-inch by 7.5-inch cards. the website added, “the individual parts can be left in the master card format to support more efficient assembly and mounting of components before being separated into individual pieces. we also offer single pieces for single piece assembly.”

in addition to the substrates, rogers is also including curamik in liquid cooling solutions: coolpower and coolpower plus and coolperformance and coolperformance plus.

“at the heart of these liquid coolers, there is a mircro or macro channel structure made of thin copper foils that are put together into a hermetically tight block using the curamik bonding process,” rogers explained. “the specific channel structure determines the thermal resistance, pressure drop and flow rate. the coolant usually enters and exits through openings connected with o-rings or screw fittings. liquid coolers are an ideal solution for high-power applications.”

the passive laser diode cooling solution is cooleasy. the website described the solution as “a high precise machined copper cooler, which is used as cs-mount for conductively cooling of laser diode bars. the top and front surface of the cooler can be diamond-milled to meet the exacting needs of flatness of laser diodes.”

in addition to curamik, rogers also recently introduced its heatsord phase-change material that is intended to be used to address thermal management in portable electronics

according to a press release, “heatsorb leverages an immobilized compound which requires a large amount of enthalpy to transition from one physical state to another. during that process, the material absorbs heat while preventing that heat from leaching into the electronics. the formulation is also designed for reliability, meaning heatsorb remains effective throughout the life of the device, making overheating a thing of the past.”

for more information about curamik, watch the video below: