Re: silicone grease

On Sat, 30 Mar 2024 11:14:10 -0700, John Larkin <jl@997PotHill.com>
wrote:

Give a nice flat mosfet package and a flat heat sink, I wonder how
much benefit accrues from adding silicone grease. It's really messy in
production and it's hard to confirm proper application. A little
googling didn't provide hard numbers.
>
I'm thinking a big-die TO-220 fet, bolted to a copper CPU cooler, AlN
or mica insulator, no grease, 40 watts. I guess I'll have to try it.

Silpads. I used silpads since the 80's. I don't know if they are better
or worse than grease, but they are good enough and most importantly they
are consistant. What happens with testing on the prototypes, happens with
production units. Shorts were always with the little vinyl grommets, you
use to keep the screws from shorting to the part. You can squeeze those
down to tight and cause a short.