Research Overview

This study focuses on the emerging developments and advances in materials technology to improve and mitigate thermal management issues in 5G devices, highlights the need for thermal management solutions such as thermal interface materials (TIMs) in 5G devices, and discusses the major development and adoption challenges that TIMs face in their commercialization. All 5G devices comprise radio units, active antennas, and other components with greater density in smaller spaces. This arrangement of high-power components necessitates greater energy consumption, generating more heat. The increased heat can cause components to burn out, significantly impacting the whole network. Also, the overheating of these devices can result in performance drops or device failure, causing network issues, outages, and downtime. As this issue can significantly affect users’ personal and professional lives, ensuring efficient heat dissipation in 5G devices is important.

Material technologies with superior capabilities for 5G devices’ thermal management come with significant tradeoffs. For instance, acrylics that form stronger bonds soften at high temperatures. This scenario creates the demand for new material technologies in thermal management that can offer attractive properties and undergo manufacturing at high volumes.