Sc2W3O12/Cu composites with low thermal expansion coefficient and high thermal conductivity for efficient cooling of electronics

Owing to that, efficient cooling the chip demands a heat sink material possess high thermal conductivity and low CTE equivalent to the gallium arsenide (GaAs) or silicon (Si). Addressing this target, we have synthesized Sc 2 W 3 O 12 /Cu composites by hot-pressing sintering at 700 °C, which was based on the uniform submicron Sc 2 W 3 O 12 powder prepared for the first time. The resulting product not only possessed a low CTE (8.31 ppm/K, which was identical to GaAs of 6.2 ppm/K) and high thermal conductivity (243.99 W/m K), but also exhibited extremely stable CTE within a temperature range of 25 °C–300 °C and high Vickers hardness (234.32 HV) due to its uniform and nearly full dense microstructure. A ‘thermoelastic-micro-mechanics'model was used to predict the CTE quantitatively and the estimated values were in good agreement with the experimental CTE values. Moreover, the excellent compatibility of thermal properties between Sc 2 W 3 O 12 and Cu possesses an isolated spot in Ashby map based on CTE and thermal conductivity, and the as-synthesized composite exhibits nearly greatest thermal stability indicated via its low thermal distortion parameter (TDP).