SinkPAD Corp. has launched a thermal management printed circuit board for LED cooling applications. According to the company, IMS PCBs with efficient through plane thermal conductivities are important for high heat generating LEDs.
Although high thermally conductive metals are used, IMS PCB performance is dependent upon the contact area, material thickness and thermal resistance of each material located between heat source and the atmosphere.

SinkPAD? technology for aluminum IMS PCB is said to significantly improve LED thermal management in all LED systems but is most effective in high-power and high-bright surface mount LED systems that can’t efficiently dissipate heat rendering them unviable for commercialization.

SinkPAD conducts heat out of the LED system (LED cooling) by enabling a direct thermal path between the LED and surrounding atmosphere, which eliminates thermal resistance introduced by the dielectric material in a traditional IMS PCB or MCPCB. The SinkPAD design completely removes the substance with the lowest thermal conductivity/highest thermal resistance from the structure. SinkPAD still uses a dielectric, but this dielectric isolates the metal base electrically and leaves it thermally connected. The thermal path should be electrically neutral within the LED package, i.e. Cree XLamp, Luxeon Rebel from Philips Lumiled, PhlatLight from Luminus, in order to solder the LED directly to the SinkPAD.