advanced thermal solutions, inc. (ats) recently posted a pair of articles explaining the importance of heat sink attachment technology in designing a pcb, in terms of both the attachment footprint in a densely populated board and in its ease of use to avoid costly damage to the board.

ats supergrip minimizes the footprint of a heat sink attachment and is easily
installed and removed to avoid damaging a pcb. (advanced thermal solutions, inc.)

the first article explored the growth in component-density on the board amid demands for higher power, greater functionality, and smaller packages. as the article noted, the defense advanced research program agency (darpa) announced that it will spend $200 million on the electronics resurgence initiative to seek new materials and manufacturing techniques in expectation that moore’s law will come to a natural end.

darpa and others are searching for technology that will push the boundaries of board and electronics design and thermal management is an inevitable component of the progress that will be made.

the article explained, “there are several options for design engineers to consider, but each comes with its own set of challenges. thermal tape and thermal epoxies [7] would obviously add nothing to the existing component footprint, but tape has proven better for low-powered chips and epoxies require time to cure and are essentially permanent, making potential rework more time-consuming and costly.”

mechanical attachments such as push pins, z-clips, and threaded standoffs are common, but in a tightly packed board there may be no room for drilling anchor holes and the holes could lead to signal routing issues or even shorts that cause damage to the board.

the second article from ats took a closer look at what damaging the board could mean to design engineers who are working through the difficult task of laying out components. while everyone hopes that the design will be right the first time, often there are many iterations and using attachments that are hard to remove or need special tools and techniques adds significant time and effort to rework.

a case study from altera corp. is referenced in the article. the case study explained, “that thermal tape and epoxy have ‘high risk of damaging the device or pcb’ when compared to mechanical attachment technology coupled with thermal interface material (tim) or phase change material (pcm). in fact, to remove a heat sink attached with epoxy requires an even temperature of 115-120°c.”

ats released its supergrip™ heat sink attachment technology to provide design engineers with an easier solution to both of the above issues. supergrip™ is a two-part attachment system with a plastic frame that sits tightly around the component with minimal addition to the overall footprint and a metal spring clip that secures the heat sink to the device.

supergrip fits perfectly on a densely-populated board and also can be removed with standard tools, such as a flathead screwdriver, reducing time and avoiding any costly damage that will make the rework or redesign more difficult and expensive.

ats added, “the advantage of supergrip™ is not limited to its ease of use and the time and money that will be saved in reworking a pcb design. the pressure strength and security of the supergrip™ attachment system allows the use of high-performance phase change materials that can improve heat transfer by as much as 20 times over standard thermal tapes.”

watch the video below to learn more about supergrip™ heat sink attachment: