Thermal Interface Materials: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts 2023-2033

This report provides an in-depth technical analysis of thermal interface materials for electric vehicles, data centers, EMI shielding, 5G, ADAS, and consumer electronics. 10-year granular area (m²), mass (kg), revenue (US$), and TIM unit price (US$) forecasts are given by application. The report covers recent developments of high-performance TIMs, successful commercial uses, and historic TIM player acquisition/partnerships. The report also identifies the future TIM trends.

 

A Thermal Interface Material (TIM) is a material used to improve heat transfer between two surfaces, typically a heat source (such as a computer processor) and a heat sink (such as a metal heatsink or other cooling system). TIMs are used everywhere ranging from batteries in electrical vehicles on the road, data center server boards to your personal smart phones and laptops, 5G base stations and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) electronics.

 

With all these emerging technologies and fast-growing markets, the TIM market is expecting 21% CAGR growth over the next 10 years. The purpose of a TIM is to fill the small gaps and imperfections between the two surfaces, reducing the thermal resistance and increasing the heat transfer efficiency.

 

TIMs come in various forms, including pastes, pads, liquids, films, and many others. A TIM typically consists of a highly conductive filler in a polymer matrix. Some common matrices include silicones, polyurethanes, acrylics, and more. Each type of TIM has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the best choice for a particular application depends on factors such as cost, thermal conductivity, ease of application, and durability.

 

TIMs have been widely adopted in many industries such as consumer electronics, electrical vehicles, data centers, 5G, and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). However, with the fast growth of many of these areas and increasing power density, TIMs are facing greater challenges in balancing costs, thermal conductivities, and other physical properties. At the same time, there are key design transitions in the target applications, such as EV batteries becoming more integrated, or data centers trending to higher powers, trends like these, among others are expected to drive a revolution of the TIM market.

 

This report from IDTechEx considers the forms, filler materials, and matrix materials of TIMs, benchmarks commercial products, details recent high-performance materials and their commercial successes, and identifies the market trends based on the collaboration and acquisitions of leading TIM suppliers. It also analyzes current TIM applications in fast-growing industries, along with the key drivers and requirements in each of these areas such as electric vehicle batteries, data centers, 5G infrastructure, consumer electronics (smartphones, tablets, and laptops), EMI shielding, and ADAS electronics (e.g., LiDAR, cameras, etc.). In addition, 10-year granular area (m²), mass (kg), revenue (US$), and TIM unit price (US$) forecasts were given for EV batteries, data centers, consumer electronics, ADAS electronics, and 5G infrastructure.

 

 

Emerging industries require TIMs and will impact the landscape of demand. EV remains the largest target application for TIMs but the other applications are growing very fast. Source: Thermal Interface Materials 2023-2033

 

Electric vehicle (EV) batteries are currently the largest target application for thermal interface materials (TIMs). With the increasing popularity of EVs, the market demand has been increasing rapidly and this trend is expected to continue for the upcoming decade. Battery technology, as one of the core technologies in EVs is also seeing rapid changes. With the increasing demand for long mileage, there is a trend towards higher energy density, reduced weight, faster charging, and fire safety, all of which require effective thermal management and materials to support. Within EV batteries, the TIM choice highly depends on cell formats, thermal management strategies, and pack designs. This report conducts extensive research into EV battery designs, covering the transition from modular designs to cell-to-pack designs and analyzes its impacts on energy density and TIM forms. 10-year TIM area (m²), mass (kg), and revenue (US$) forecasts are provided across multiple vehicle segments (cars, buses, trucks, vans, and two-wheelers) and by TIM form (thermally conductive adhesives, gap fillers, and gap pads).

 

 

 

As data centers become more powerful and densely packed, the heat dissipation challenges for these components increases rapidly. If the heat is not dissipated properly, it can lead to decreased performance, shortened lifespan, and even hardware failure, thereby causing significant technical issues. This report conducts extensive research into data center components, analyzing TIMs used in commercially available server boards, line cards, switches/supervisors, and power supplies with a number of case studies. 10-year TIM area (m2), mass (kg), and revenue (US$) forecasts are provided across key data center components (processors, chipsets, switches, and power supplies) with analysis of the TIM requirements for data center applications.

 

With the greater demand for autonomous driving, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are becoming increasingly popular. In ADAS, various electronic components such as sensors, cameras, and processors are used to collect and process data, and make decisions. These components can generate heat during operation, and with the continuous densification of designs, the heat dissipation will become a bigger challenge. If the heat is not properly managed, it can cause damage to the components, thereby affecting sensors' performance. This report provides a detailed analysis of TIM requirements for ADAS LiDAR, cameras, radar, and computers with commercial use-cases and 10-year granular TIM area (m2), mass (kg), and revenue (US$) forecasts.

 

 

 

EMI shielding plays a critical role across many industries ranging from ADAS radar, 5G antenna, to smartphones. One of the exciting segments is 5G. Compared with 4G, 5G uses higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths. The increasing frequency shrinks the sizes of antenna and associated electronics, leading to greater heat dissipation challenges. Further to this, a large number of 5G base stations need to be deployed locally because of the inherent short transmission lengths. 5G presents more EMI challenges since the effectiveness of EMI mitigation measures declines with higher frequencies because smaller wavelengths allow energy to escape through gaps in shields. To mitigate this issue, this report analyzes several EMI TIMs that can provide both EMI shielding and high thermal conductivities. In contrast to traditional board-level shields (BLSs), with a layer of TIM inside and outside the shield, a single layer of TIM and EMI absorber can be used directly on the chip to make contact with the heat sink, which not only improves overall thermal performance but also reduces manufacturing complexity.

 

 

 

The increased infrastructure density and power dissipation requirement in 5G infrastructure combined with the technology transition leads to a large market for TIMs. This report highlights and discusses the thermal and EMI challenges around 5G infrastructure, along with the solutions from current designs in the form of teardowns or use-cases and progression for the future design with granular market forecasts for station size and frequency.

 

In addition to the topics discussed above, this report from IDTechEx also covers the TIM markets for many other fast-growing areas including smartphones, tablets and laptops. Further to this, the report analyzes the prices and thermal conductivities of various high-performance TIMs segmented by carbon-based fillers (graphene, graphite, carbon nanotubes, etc.) and metal-based fillers (gallium, indium, etc.) to provide a comprehensive analysis of the high-performance TIM trends.

Report Metrics	Details
Historic Data	2018 - 2022
CAGR	Thermal Interface Material market to exhibit 21% CAGR over the next 10 years.
Forecast Period	2023 - 2033
Forecast Units	US$, kg, m2
Regions Covered	Worldwide
Segments Covered	Electric Vehicle Battery Packs, Data Centers, 5G, Consumer Electronics, Electromagnetic Interference Shielding, ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system)

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