IDTechEx has thoroughly studied the form and composition of thermal interface materials in this new report

According to Memes Consulting, thermal interface material (TIM) is one of the key requirements for all electronic equipment, power modules, communications, energy storage, and other applications. Essentially, as long as the system generates heat and needs to dissipate it (for example, through a heat sink), thermal interface materials are usually used. For different applications and markets, the form and composition of thermal interface materials are very different, and most large-scale material suppliers also manufacture thermal interface materials. Many industries have begun to rise or pay more attention to thermal management and the demand for thermal interface materials, which has brought a huge potential market for thermal interface materials.

In this new report, the well-known British research company IDTechEx has deeply studied the form and composition of thermal interface materials, the standards of commercial products, and detailed analysis of various new advanced materials. The report also analyzes the current application status of thermal interface materials in emerging markets, as well as the key driving factors and needs in these fields, such as electric vehicle batteries, data centers, LEDs, 4G/5G infrastructure, smartphones, tablets, and laptops Wait.

Comparison of thermal conductivity of various forms of thermal interface materials

In addition, the report also carried out a 10-year market forecast for each market segment according to the application field and market size. In the next 10 years, the most exciting thermal interface material market mainly includes electric vehicle batteries, 5G infrastructure, and smartphones.

Many emerging industries need to apply thermal interface materials, thus affecting the demand pattern

Electric car battery

There is no doubt that electric vehicles will become the main means of transportation in the future. Although the new crown epidemic (COVID-19) has had a great negative impact on the entire automotive industry, electric vehicles will continue to grow in 2020. In the next 10 years, the electric vehicle market will not only continue to grow rapidly, but under this trend, electric vehicles will develop in the direction of higher energy density, faster-charging speed, longer service life, and higher fire safety. All of these require effective thermal management and thermal interface materials to provide support. At present, there is no unified standard for the battery design of electric vehicles. There are various forms of batteries, thermal management strategies, and battery pack designs. Each design affects the amount and utilization of thermal interface materials.

Electric vehicle use case analysis (Audi e-Tron)

IDTechEx has extensive and in-depth research in the field of electric vehicle batteries and has a comprehensive model database that covers market data such as different battery formats and energy densities. In this report, IDTechEx covers the demand for batteries in a variety of vehicle market segments, analyzes their utilization of thermal interface materials, provides trend analysis, and drives demand for specific thermal interface materials.

There are many electric vehicle models, all market segments are growing, and the demand for thermal interface materials is also growing.

5G infrastructure and smartphones

It has become a general consensus that 5G has become the next-generation communication network technology and is replacing 4G/LTE. 5G can provide extremely high download and upload rates and ultra-low latency. These features have the potential to achieve many anticipated applications, such as autonomous driving, virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR), and other IoT technologies.

Use cases of thermal interface materials in Samsung 5G access points

At present, most 5G networks are based on the sub-6 GHz frequency band, and millimeter wave (mmWave) networks have the potential to realize the above-mentioned applications. Of course, the millimeter-wave network also poses many challenges, such as poor signal propagation and easily blocked, which requires a dense network of many small base stations to build the necessary coverage.

5G base station thermal interface materials market forecast (fuzzy sample)

These small base stations are more compact and require higher-density electronic components, which poses a challenge to system heat dissipation. Traditional air conditioners will not be able to meet these compact and frequently exchanged millimeter-wave antennas. Therefore, high-performance thermal interface materials are required to achieve efficient passive thermal management.

Use cases of thermal interface materials in Samsung 5G smartphone Galaxy S21

On the other hand, smartphones are also facing 5G challenges. In the compact packaging of smartphones, the heat dissipation of the new generation of 5G chips and multiple 5G antennas has become a huge challenge. Many OEM manufacturers have increased the use of thermal interface materials and combined them with technologies such as vacuum chamber soaking plates.

The demand for thermal interface materials for 5G infrastructure and smartphones continues to grow. With the deployment of infrastructure and the huge number of mobile phone sales, huge opportunities have been created for the thermal interface materials market. This report focuses on introducing and discussing the heat dissipation challenges faced by 5G infrastructure and smartphones. It provides current design solutions and future development trends through application cases combined with reverse disassembly and is based on base station scale, frequency, and intelligence. The mobile phone has carried out detailed market segmentation forecasts.

Application of thermal interface materials in servers

In addition to the topics discussed above, this report also covers the thermal interface material market for data centers, LEDs, 4G infrastructure, tablet computers, and notebook computer applications. Through use cases and reverse disassembly, the respective challenges and driving factors are analyzed and Provide a detailed 10-year market segment forecast.