Polymer-metal nanofibrous composite for thermal management of microsystems

In this letter, a composite structure based on a porous electrospun polyimide structure infiltrated with indium aimed at thermal interface material applications is presented. A porous nanofibrous structure was prepared by electrospinning of polyimide. An interfacial nanocomposite layer of silver nanoparticles partially or fully embedded in the polyimide matrix was synthesized on the fiber surfaces, followed by autocatalytic deposition of a uniform silver coating (using the interfacial layer as an anchored seed layer) serving as a reactive wetting layer for the infiltrating melt. The thermal performance of the composite was evaluated and the thermal conductivity was determined to be 27 W/mK, accompanied by low contact resistance of the metallurgical bond (<1 Kmm(2)/W). Consequently, the composite exhibits promising thermal properties as a thermal interface material, indicating the potential for use in thermal management of microsystems. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.