EMI Absorber and Thermal Management Material for 5G Applications

Laird Performance Materials has developed a hybrid thermal & EMI absorber material that supports 5G handheld device and network infrastructure applications. The company specifically designed CoolZorb 5G for the millimeter wave and microwave frequencies that 5G will implement. The multifunctional CoolZorb 5G serves as a heat-mitigating gap filler and an EMI-reducing absorber to optimize 5G system performance.

Applications for the material include thermal and EMI absorption for telecom infrastructure, optical transceivers, handsets, consumer devices, and servers.

5G cell towers operating on the higher frequency mmWaves and the implementation of massive MIMO are creating new heat and interference issues. The associated higher data rates are doing the same in cloud servers and storage systems. Laird contends that its best-in-class thermal interface and EMI materials can produce more efficient, powerful, and reliable infrastructure systems.

As markets continue to demand lighter, thinner, and faster devices, the circuitry within the devices becomes denser, increasing the likelihood of EMI and thermal issues. 5G mobile devices will only increase these issues.

CoolZorb 5G is used as a traditional thermal interface material between heat sources, such as an IC and a heat sink or other heat transfer device or metal chassis. The company says that it provides an excellent thermal conductor for heat dissipation.

CoolZorb 5G suppresses unwanted energy coupling, resonances or surface currents causing board level EMI issues.

Addressing both EMI and heat challenges, Coolorb 5G enables engineers to shorten the design cycle and move their 5G products to market faster.

"There is a misconception that if protective components like absorbers are required, somehow the design is fundamentally flawed. With 5G it is almost impossible to design around protective components like absorbers, which increase in effectiveness at higher frequencies and can help address heat sink-generated EMI issues at mmWave," said Paul F. Dixon, material scientist at Laird Performance Materials. "While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to EMI and heat challenges in 5G technology, multifunctional products like the CoolZorb 5G allow engineers to address EMI and heat issues simultaneously and save space within devices."

The CoolZorb 5G hybrid thermal & EMI absorber material is available in standard sheet sizes of 18in x 18in, in thicknesses ranging from 0.040in to 0.200in (1.0mm to 5.1mm).

Features and Benefits

• Both excellent thermal conductivity and good EMI suppression in the microwave frequency range
• Inherent surface tack
• Color: Dark gray
• Thermal conductivity: 3.5W/m-K
• Density: 3.5g/cc
• Hardness (3 sec): 59.5 Shore 00
• Tensile strength: 17.3psi
• Temperature Range: -40°C to 175°C NA
• UL Flammability: UL 94 V-0 Pending UL
• Volume resistivity: 8 x 10^13Ω*cm
• Tensile Strenght: > 4Mpa
• Outgassing (TML): 0.31%
• Outgassing (CVCM): 0.04%
• Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) 214μm/mC
• Standard Thickness range: 0.040in to 0.200in (1.0mm to 5.1mm)
• Thickness Tolerance: +/- 10% of nominal

Availability

• Standard sheet size is 18in X 18in
• Thickness availability range is .040in to 0.200in (1.0mm to 5.1mm)
• Common standards for thickness are 0.040in, 0.060in, 0.080in , 0.100in, and 0.125in thickness (1.0mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, and 3.1mm)
• No charge samples are available in 4in X 4in size for each of the above common thicknesses