Thermal interface materials for high-power LED packaging: advances, reliability and design guidelines

Darvazi, AR, Eslami Majd, A ORCID: 0000-0002-6961-2342, Ekere, NN and Wang, J ORCID: 0000-0003-4646-9106 (2026) Thermal interface materials for high-power LED packaging: advances, reliability and design guidelines. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, 75. ISSN 2451-9049

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Abstract

Efficient thermal management remains a major constraint in high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs), where most input electrical power is dissipated as heat, elevating junction temperature and accelerating lumen depreciation and package degradation. This review examines thermal interface materials (TIMs) used in LED packages and modules, organised into four hierarchical families: conventional conformable TIMs, bonded metallic interfaces, engineered composite systems, and architecture-driven or emerging concepts. Representative materials within these families, including greases, gels, pads, solders, phase-change materials, sintered Ag/Cu joints, transient liquid phase sintering systems, liquid–metal hybrids, polymer–ceramic nanocomposites, and nano-architected interfaces, are critically analysed. Particular attention is given to the coupled roles of through-plane thermal conductivity, bond-line thickness, and interfacial contact resistance, which together determine the effective thermal resistance of TIM layers and the resulting LED junction temperature. Comparative tables and a quantitative design map relate material properties to LED-level performance and reliability considerations, including pump-out, voiding, corrosion, and thermo-mechanical fatigue. Finally, a conceptual roadmap is presented for an electrically insulating TIM based on aligned boron nitride nanotube/nanosheet–epoxy architectures, and a simplified one-dimensional thermal stack analysis illustrates the junction temperature reduction achievable when effective total thermal resistance is minimised at sub-100 µm bond lines.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Thermal interface material (TIM); High-PowerLEDs; Interfacial thermal resistance; Bond-line thickness; Polymer-ceramic nanocomposites; Boron nitride nanotubes; 40 Engineering; 4016 Materials Engineering; 4012 Fluid mechanics and thermal engineering; 4017 Mechanical engineering
Subjects:	T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Divisions:	Engineering and Built Environment
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date of acceptance:	11 May 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	21 August 2026
Date Deposited:	21 Aug 2026 12:08
Last Modified:	21 Aug 2026 12:08
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.tsep.2026.104738
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29176

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