Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. (President: Chihiro Kanagawa; Head Office: Tokyo), has developed and begun to market a thermally conductive silicone double-sided adhesive tape, TC-20SAS, which provides both superior heat dissipation and long-term reliability.

This product possesses higher reliability because of its characteristics of superior thermal resistance and excellent electrical insulation properties in addition to its high thermal conductivity of 0.7 W/m·K and its good adhesiveness. Moreover, it is superior in glue-on workability and re-workability. The thickness of this new silicone adhesive tape is 200um and its standard size is 300mm x 400mm. Thus, it can respond to desired size. The start of mass-production is scheduled for June 2008.

Currently, the double-sided silicone adhesive tape products on the market are mostly acrylic resin types. These acrylic resin-type products are limited in their applications due to the deterioration that occurs in adhesive layers at high temperatures. Shin-Etsu’s newly developed adhesive tape product is a silicone type product, and accordingly, it can be used in a wide-temperature range of -40°C ~+150°C and is also superior in long term reliability.

This new adhesive tape product will be exhibited at Shin-Etsu Chemical’s booth at the 10th Thermal Engineering Exhibition on heat management at TECHNO-FRONTIER 2008, Japan’s largest Electronic and Mechatronic parts exhibition (Organizer: the Japan Management Association), which will be held for three days from April 16 to 18, 2008 at the Makuhari Messe (Convention Center) in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo.

In addition to this new thermally conductive, double-sided silicone adhesive tape, Shin-Etsu Chemical has a line up of various other types of thermally conductive silicone materials such as rubber sheet, grease, gel and liquid rubber products that possess excellent adhesiveness. Depending on the application, it is possible to meet various heat-dissipation requirements, and Shin-Etsu will continue to pursue the development of products to meet the future needs of a market that will have even more sophisticated needs in the coming years.

Silicones are highly functional materials that combine characteristics of both organic and inorganic materials. They are materials that provide high value-added features for products in a wide range of industrial fields, including electrical and electronic applications, automobiles, construction, cosmetics and chemicals.

*About heat-dissipating thermally conductive materials:
Heat-dissipating thermal interface materials are thermally conductive compounds, which are fitted between the heat-generating unit, such as a computer’s CPU, and the heatsink. They make it possible to effectively conduct the heat to the heatsink. Demand for thermally conductive silicone materials is expanding for such heat-dissipation applications as in the growing number of electronic components in automobiles and LEDs as well as in PCs, home appliances, and electronic game units. Moreover, due to the increasing miniaturization and higher performance of electronic devices, the need for more effective heat-dissipation materials is further increasing.