Products keep LED heat down

A 3M Electronic Materials product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Sep 4, 2007

The 8940 thermally conductive adhesive tape manages thermal transfer away from the LED into the designated heat sink.

3M has introduced thermal management solutions that enable product designers and manufacturers to overcome the challenge of managing heat transfer within high brightness light emitting diodes (LEDs).

The 8940 thermally conductive adhesive tape, which efficiently manages thermal transfer away from the LED into the designated heat sink.

High-brightness LEDs are able to use more of their available energy for actual lighting and have a working life of 20,000 hours, expected to reach 100,000 within a few years.

Not only does this make this new generation of LEDs more efficient in terms of power consumption, they are also an environmentally sound option.

However, high-brightness LEDs do have a drawback: the use of a small printed circuit board (PCB) at the back of each LED can create enough overheating to cause product malfunction or reduction of working life, so thermal management of LEDs is more important than ever before.

Traditional thermal management products in this area have their limitations.

Ggrease is messy to apply in such a small environment and as it tends to dry out, limiting shelf life.

The 3M solution to managing heat transfer in high-brightness LEDs is its range of thermally conductive tapes, including the new 8940, which provides adhesion, thermal conductivity and electrical insulation within a single product.

The tape uses thermally conductive ceramic fillers, with a temperature-resistant acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive on one or both sides, for easy and flexible application.

Moreover, the tape is designed to last for the life of the product for which it designed.

In addition to the 8940 tape, 3M provides other product solutions for thermal management, all able to be customised into die-cut shapes.

Able to meet the majority of LED thermal management needs, 3M 8940 is aimed at markets where high-brightness LEDs are being widely used, including electronic signage and display, mobile and handheld, automotive, signals and other illumination products.