Notch sensitivity of polymer-based thermal interface materials

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) used between the chip and the heat spreader play an indispensable role in effective heat removal to ensure the chip's performance and reliability. As they suffer from stresses in practical applications, TIMs need to have high toughness to resist fracture. The notch sensitivity of TIMs is considered an important parameter to evaluate its toughness. However, the notch sensitivity of TIMs is seldom mentioned, and the mechanism to enhance the toughness is still unclear. Here, using polymer-based TIMs consisting of polydimethylsiloxane/aluminum as a model, we specifically investigate notch sensitivity of TIMs and analyze the mechanical mechanism in detail from the macroscopic and microscopic scales. It was found that a transition from notch insensitive to notch sensitive will happen with a notch length of 2.0 mm, which is much higher than typical soft materials, such as hydrogels. We interpret the notch sensitivity of the TIM by finite element analysis at macroscopic scales and the Lake–Thomas theory at microcosmic scales. The relationship between the area of the strain concentration region to the notch length in finite element analysis is in good agreement with the fracture stretch ratio with different notch lengths measured in a uniaxial tensile experiment. This investigation gives an insight into designing notch-insensitivity TIM and understanding their fracture behavior.