[time-nuts] newbie question Thunderbolt supply

[Michael Tharp]

On 08/27/2012 10:09 AM, Jerry wrote:
> Are these thermal pads temp conductive or insulative?  If you want heat
> dissipation why not use the readily available thermal grease used for
> semiconductor mounting? Cheap and not really messy if applied correctly

A layer of Kapton (polyimide) tape would be electrically insulating but 
still conduct heat well enough for this application. You could then put 
a thermal pad under that and not have to worry about it being conductive 
or (I think) capacitative. I'd prefer the pad to the grease because the 
bottom of a PCB has lots of pointy bits that would keep the plane of the 
PCB spaced away from the plate, and thermal grease is not very effective 
as a filler material. It would also be springy enough to maintain 
contact with the bottom of the PCB.

I'm still not entirely sure this is a good idea though, seems like a 
low-temp oven for the whole tbolt would be better if you want thermal 
stability.

-- m. tharp