Re: white paste

"I.F." <dai.ode@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:_iS2g.3042$m4.2908@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

The claim that provoked my rebuttal was that bad! The suggestion that
heatsink compound has only slightly better thermal conductivity than
air is ridiculous, and persuading the OP to damage their equipment by
using insufficient heatsink compound is outrageous!

Or maybe they spread the heatsink compound that thinly themselves, and
feel that the heatsink is running cool (But the transistor isn't!) -
Oh! that's working well then.



Point taken about the comparison to air, but the rest of the post makes
sense.

[quote]
I second the very thin layer. It is not a very good conductor of heat, just
beter than air. The object is to fill in all the tiny spaces where you do
not actually have metal to metal contact. If too thick , then it will act
as a heat insulator and the transistor will actually run hotter.
[/quote]

I've said plenty now about how to optimise for large surfaces such as in
power amps, so I won't add to that, but this guy did make the main point,
that metal to metal contact is all, and the goop is only to fill gaps.
Anthing that prevents that is badm be it too much or too little, and
context (as in size of surface and amount of goop) is all.
.