초록

An apparatus and system, as well as fabrication methods therefor, may include a thermal intermediate structure with metal decorated carbon nanotubes incorporated in solder.

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1. A method, comprising: forming a billet of solder incorporating a plurality of carbon nanotubes thereon which are chemically bonded to the solder;aligning a substantial percentage of the carbon nanotubes with an axis of the billet; andslicing the billet perpendicular to the axis into thermal inter

1. A method, comprising: forming a billet of solder incorporating a plurality of carbon nanotubes thereon which are chemically bonded to the solder;aligning a substantial percentage of the carbon nanotubes with an axis of the billet; andslicing the billet perpendicular to the axis into thermal intermediate blanks having a thickness substantially less than their length or width. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein aligning the nanotubes comprises: working the billet by a process selected from the group consisting of rolling, extruding or pultruding. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal intermediate blank is interposed in a gap between a die and a heat sink. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the gap between the die and the heat sink is from less than or equal to about 5 microns to about 250 microns. 5. A method comprising forming a thermal intermediate structure comprising a plurality of metal decorated carbon nanotubes blended with solder with at least some of the plurality of carbon nanotubes substantially aligned with a thermal axis of the thermal intermediate structure;coupling a first surface of the thermal intermediate structure to a surface of a heat sink with the thermal axis of the thermal intermediate structure oriented substantially perpendicular to the surface of the heat sink; andcoupling a second surface of the thermal intermediate structure to a surface of a heat source. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein coupling the second surface of the thermal intermediate structure to the surface of the heat source comprises forming a solder bond between the surface of the heat source and the second surface of the thermal intermediate structure. 7. The method of claim 5, wherein coupling the first surface of the thermal intermediate structure to the surface of the heat sink comprises forming a solder bond between the surface of the heat sink and the first surface of the thermal intermediate structure. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein forming the solder bond comprises applying a solder wetting coating to the surface of the heat source and melting the second surface of the thermal intermediate structure to form a bond with the solder wetting coating. 9. The method of claim 7, wherein forming the solder bond comprises applying a solder wetting coating to the surface of the heat sink and melting the first surface of the thermal intermediate structure to form a bond with the solder wetting coating. 10. A method comprising: forming a billet of solder incorporating a plurality of carbon nanotubes with solder, the plurality of carbon nanotubes having a first thermal conductivity greater than a second thermal conductivity of the solder, wherein forming the billet includes: at least partially pre-coating the plurality of carbon nanotubes with metal particles, andchemically bonding the plurality of carbon nanotubes to the solder at the metal particles;aligning a substantial percentage of the plurality of carbon nanotubes with an axis of the billet; andslicing the billet perpendicular to the axis into thermal intermediate blanks. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein slicing the billet includes slicing the billet into thermal intermediate blanks having a thickness substantially less than a length or width of the thermal intermediate blanks. 12. The method of claim 10, wherein aligning the substantial percentage of the plurality of carbon tubes includes rolling the billet. 13. The method of claim 10, wherein aligning the substantial percentage of the plurality of carbon tubes includes extruding the billet. 14. The method of claim 10, wherein at least partially pre-coating the plurality of carbon nanotubes includes refluxing the plurality of carbon nanotubes with an acid to form acid sites and open closed tips of the carbon nanotubes. 15. The method of claim 10 comprising assembling two or more of the thermal intermediate blanks into a thermal intermediate structure. 16. The method of claim 15 comprising interposing the two or more of the thermal intermediate blanks in a gap between a die and a heat sink. 17. The method of claim 10, wherein aligning includes aligning longitudinal axes of the plurality of carbon nanotubes with the axis of the billet. 18. The method of claim 5 comprising assembling two or more thermal intermediate blanks into the thermal intermediate structure, the two or more thermal intermediate blanks including the plurality of metal decorated carbon nanotubes blended with solder and at least some of the plurality of carbon nanotubes are substantially aligned with the thermal axis of the thermal intermediate structure. 19. The method of claim 1, wherein aligning includes aligning longitudinal axes of the plurality of carbon nanotubes with the axis of the billet. 20. The method of claim 5, wherein forming the thermal intermediate structure includes aligning longitudinal axes of the plurality of metal decorated carbon nanotubes with the thermal axis of the thermal intermediate structure.