Goodfellow Corp., Coraopolis, Pa., reports that its microporous copper foam coated with a thin, hard layer of copper oxide provides outstanding performance as a low-profile heat sink in passive cooling environments. The structure of the heat sinks has pore sizes between 300 and 600 microns and a relative density of around 37%, providing a much higher surface area than traditional copper foams. The black copper oxide that coats the interconnected pores of the thermally conductive copper foam is said to greatly increases emissivity and therefore passive cooling performance.
In addition, the height of the heat sink can be reduced with no sacrifice in performance, or improved thermal performance can be achieved in the same physical envelope. A smaller footprint is possible, since the size requirements of individual components can be reduced due to increased thermal efficiency.
Testing by the manufacturer has shown that these heat sinks can outperform their comparable competitors by up to 6°C/W.
