CeramCool® heat-sinks

There are principally two optimization paths when considering thermal aspects and designing cooling and heat dissipation concepts for sensitive electronic systems with high power densities:

1. The choice of heat-sink material determines the lion’s share of the thermal result.
2. Other benefits can be achieved in terms of cooling and heat dissipation based on the type of assembly (gluing, soldering, etc.).

However, one of the keys to efficient cooling is to also optimize the thermal resistance within the entire cooling system. An even better solution is to not use materials with high thermal resistance such as thermal compounds or heat-conducting films at all and to completely remove them from the system. CeramTec developed CeramCool^® ceramic heat-sinks based on these optimization paths.
 

Worth knowing:

• Ceramic heat-sinks made from Al2O3 aluminum oxide or AlN aluminum nitride
• High electrical insulation with high thermal conductivity
• High chemical resistance and corrosion resistance for long service life
• Excellent high frequency characteristics
• Heat-sink and circuit board in one (chip-on-heatsink)

• Extremely low total thermal resistance R_th
• Ground, directly metalizable surface
• Metalizations: Cu (to 300 µm), Ag or W/Ni/Au
• Cooling performance up to 1,000 W/cm²
  (depending on coolant and permissible surface temperature)
• Scalable to nearly any cooling performance
• Suitable, reliable connection technology available

CeramCool^® heat-sinks are an effective combination of circuit board and heat-sink for the reliable cooling of thermally sensitive components and circuits. They enable the direct and permanent connection of components and are excellently suited for thermal management and cooling of high-power LEDs, photovoltaic systems or high-performance circuits in high-power electronics.

In addition to minimizing thermal resistance, eliminating additional layers and thus thermal barriers also reduces the number of components and potential sources of error in the overall system. This has a positive impact on the assembly process and ultimately on system cost. So the general rule for innovative thermal management with ceramic heat-sinks is: “Keep it simple” – a simplified system structure optimizes cooling.

The ceramic materials used are Rubalit® aluminum oxide and Alunit® aluminum nitride, which can feature a number of different metalizations and conductor path structures – if necessary, even three-dimensional and “around the edge”. With its chip-on-heatsink technique, CeramTec has developed a process that also enables optimal thermal coupling to the cooling medium.