High Thermal Conductivity Pitch-Based Carbon Fiber Copper Composites
Kuprion has developed a carbon fiber-copper composite paste material based on their ActiveCopper technology that can be cured and densified into a solid copper matrix composite. These composites have a wide range of thermal conductivities (up to 393 W/m*K), and the thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) can be tailored and matched to that of industry standard electronic substrates depending on the formulation. Moreover, the processing conditions of these materials matches those used for standard PCB lamination, allowing the material to be directly embedded in PCBs using current manufacturing processes as a direct replacement for copper coins and plated thermal vias. These materials enable more efficient heat dissipation in all electronic systems, allowing electronics to run cooler simultaneously improving reliability and performance. The adoption of this unique metal matrix composite provides a number of economic and environmental benefits. First, increased cooling capacity of electronic systems ultimately reduces power consumption and lengthens system lifetime. Second, the process reduces waste streams generated from standard plating processes common in PCB manufacturing. Third these metal matrix composites can provide a valuable market for coal-tar derived products. Carbon fiber derived from coal-tar can be incorporated into ActiveCopper-based metal matrix composites to create highly thermally conductive thermal vias in PCBs. Kuprion has already generated interest for this product with the world’s largest PCB manufacturers to the tune of hundreds to thousands of kilograms per year. As this technology is implemented at the PCB level, it’s effects will be felt broadly across many industries including, but not limited to, space-based sensing and power, industrial electronics, automotive electronics, aerospace, health monitoring in harsh environments, electric vehicles, batteries, oil and gas exploration, telecommunication equipment (especially 5G networks and server farms), LED lighting, microelectronics packaging (IC stacking and ultrahigh density I/O copper pillar technology), space exploration on Venus and Mercury, and atmospheric re-entry. Proposed Phase II efforts include evaluating and developing US sources of coal-tar derived carbon fibers and developing copper metal matrix composites with thermal and electrical conductivities exceeding that of copper for ultra-high efficiency transmission lines and electric motors.
- Research Organization:
- Kuprion Inc.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC) SC-1
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0022620
- OSTI ID:
- 1996607
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-KUPRION-SC0022620
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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