Heat Sink Materials

Aluminum is the most common material because of lower cost, ease of manufacturing, and the existing 

infrastructure.  A higher conductivity material is preferred, however, copper is beginning to find more use for both heat sinks and chip IC lead frames.  A material that is more conductive than aluminum, but not as costly as copper would be viable, especially if easily shaped. 

Newer materials, both clads and alloys, have become available in recent years, however, copper-tungsten (Cu/W) is a great material and is offered by THT.  The very low CTE values are its main feature. Copper- Molybdenum (Cu/Mo) also has a low CTE and is available at THT. 

Composite heat sinks are emerging and this area is getting increasingly more attention since Nanotechnology can be applied.  We can expect other composites to be developed with nano materials such as carbon Nanotubes (CNT) in the near future. Metal and nano materials may possibly be used together as composites. 

Some of this blog post comes from "Heat Sink Materials" by Ken Gilleo, PhD

Please visit Torrey Hills Tech at www.torreyhillstech.com for more info and/or a quote on CuW, Cu/Mo, etc!