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Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to… ™
Thermal Management with Insulated Metal Substrates, Volume 2

by: Didier Mauve and Robert Art, Ventec International Group

The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... Thermal Management with Insulated Metal Substrates, Volume 2 spotlights material selection for cost-effective solutions and reliable designs. This book covers the latest developments in the field of thermal management, particularly in insulated metal substrates, using state-of-the-art products as examples and focusing on specific solutions and enhanced properties of IMS. These include not only the heat dissipation and the drive to increase thermal conductivity (W/mK), but the total thermal balance as well.

Readers will learn the various methods that have been applied to the modeling and testing of thermal materials. Different approaches give varying values of thermal conductivity when applied to the same material, and the effects of measurement errors and tolerance in dielectric thickness can also vary. One of the most pertinent questions answered is how to improve reliability of components as they become increasingly smaller.

Download the companion guide The Solutions Guide to... Thermal Management



ISBN: 979-8-9856020-3-6
ISBN POD: 979-8-9856020-5-0

Didier Mauve

Well known and highly respected in the printed circuit community, Didier Mauve brings over 25 years of industry experience with him. His CV includes roles such as the sales and marketing manager of one of the leading distributors in Europe, and as managing director of the largest copper-foil converting service in Europe. Mauve joined Ventec in 2015 to strategically drive European sales. His particular expertise and interest in thermal management technology has been instrumental in helping Ventec become a global leader for high-tech and high-reliability materials.


Robert Art

Robert Art has over 30 years’ professional experience in electronics and printed circuit board materials, having previously worked in sales and account management roles at global PCB laminate distribution companies and component manufacturers in Austria. Robert joined Ventec in 2017 as area sales manager for Central and Eastern Europe.

In his current role at Ventec, Robert is now responsible for business development activities for the company’s IMS product lines to help Ventec further develop its leadership position for high-reliability thermal management solutions.

Ventec International Group is a world leader in the production of polyimide and high-quality, high-performance copper-clad laminates and prepregs used in a wide range of PCB and associated applications. Ventec is a global company with an extensive footprint of manufacturing, distribution, technical service, and sales centers throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States. A fully owned and managed global supply chain allows Ventec to readily and consistently supply quality products to all markets in all geographic areas.

Ventec’s solutions include the latest advances in high-performance IMS materials that deliver exceptional thermal performance, reliability, and quality that is particularly demanded by automotive, medical, aerospace, and military markets, including LED lighting and DC power conversion applications. With tec-speed©, Ventec offers an advanced range of PCB materials for high-speed low-loss applications. PCB base materials are also part of the Ventec portfolio, including complementary products such as flex- and rigid-flex circuit board materials; backup, entry, and routing materials, foils, and coatings. Their latest tec-speed 10 ultra-low Dk material with Dk values between 2.3 and 2.8 achieves lower losses, lower system power requirements, while balancing performance and cost.

Wherever technology takes you, Ventec delivers! For more information, visit www.venteclaminates.com.

This book has been technically reviewed by the following experts:

Jan Pedersen

Director of Technology, NCAB Group

Jan was practically born into the PCB industry with a father who produced printed circuits in the garage. He then started his career around printed circuits in 1977. Jan has shared his knowledge of PCBs at Elmatica since 1992, the last ten years as Senior Technical Advisor, and from January 2022 [...]

Kyle Burk, PhD

President and Director of Engineering, KBJ Engineering

Dr. Kyle Burk is President and Director of Engineering for KBJ Engineering LLC and Circuitboardlayout.com. He has over 10 years experience in designing and developing medical device electronics and instrumentation. He has authored 6 peer-reviewed journal publications and is inventor on 5 US [...]

Chapter Summaries

  • Chapter 1

    High Emissivity


    The authors discuss the advantages of the model developed for leveraging IMS in LED assemblies, which replaces the typical PCB-TIM-heatsink stack-up.
  • Chapter 2

    Solder Cracks


    Mismatch between the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the substrate material and components is the main cause of cracks in soldered joints. Various measures can be applied to prevent cracks from forming.
  • Chapter 3

    Thermal Resistor Measurement


    To assess a vendor’s claims about the performance of an IMS, it is important to know the test method that has been applied. Designers may need to rely on empirical data and past experience to develop an IMS specification to meet their needs.
  • Chapter 4

    Selecting IMS for High-Temperature Applications


    IMS can offer a more robust solution than alternatives and tends to come at a lower cost than direct-bonded copper. Designers need to make sure they understand how the chosen material has been characterized to make an accurate prediction of its performance in the target application.
  • Chapter 5

    Boosting Thermal Performance with Multilayer IMS


    This chapter provides examples of thermally enhanced prepregs and cores now available in the market with the versatility to solve a wide variety of challenges. Included are examples of simple designs and more complex hybrid assemblies that combine multilayer and single-layer areas on the same board.

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What Our Readers Are Saying

The Solutions Guide to...
Thermal Management

This must-read sequel to Ventec’s book series, The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to... Thermal Management with Insulated Metal Substrates, Volume 1 and Volume 2, describes the popular applications, IMS products and selection criteria, and engineering support services that can help engineers understand and overcome thermal management challenges.






Jan Pedersen, Director of Technology, NCAB Group
Full Review

Contact the Author

For technical support click here

Jan Pedersen, Director of Technology, NCAB Group

IMS materials have been in the marketplace for decades now without a standard for the user's reference. Basically, users have no rule to follow, no standards telling them which material to select and what we can expect from these materials. This textbook is an important contribution to the understanding of IMS materials and, specifically, the focus on total thermal resistance and the new IPC Test Method TM-650 2.3.54, “Thermal Transmission Properties of Metal Based Printed Boards (MBPB),” where co-author Robert Art has been an important contributor. Working with Robert Art in the development of this standard, the importance of total thermal resistance has been an eye opener for me from being focused on one material’s thermal conductivity to understanding the total thermal behaviour of a material stackup.

Jan Pedersen

Jan was practically born into the PCB industry with a father who produced printed circuits in the garage. He then started his career around printed circuits in 1977. Jan has shared his knowledge of PCBs at Elmatica since 1992, the last ten years as Senior Technical Advisor, and from January 2022 as Director of Technology at NCAB. He is also chair at IPC Medical Addendum group D-33AM, Automotive Addendum D-33AA, Ultra HDI Task Group D-33AP and High-Voltage Cable Task Group 7-31FHV IPC WHMA-A-620.

Standards are close to Jan's heart, and he's always looking for improvement and development.

Kyle Burk, PhD

Dr. Kyle Burk is President and Director of Engineering for KBJ Engineering LLC and Circuitboardlayout.com. He has over 10 years experience in designing and developing medical device electronics and instrumentation. He has authored 6 peer-reviewed journal publications and is inventor on 5 US patents. Dr. Burk received his MS and PhD degrees as a NASA Space Grant Fellow from the University of Utah located in Salt Lake City, Utah.