High Reliability
- Fully sealed structure - no mess or migration
- Most consistent performance - applies the correct amount of
alloy every time
- Gallium-free
- Laser-cut precision
User Friendly
- Fully compatible with copper and aluminum surfaces
- Peel-and-stick application
- Easy clean up - just peel to remove
Reflow Procedure for Indigo-Xtreme
Full Review "Indigo Xtreme the New Thermal Compound King"
How It Works
What is Indigo Xtreme™
Indigo Xtreme™ is an Engineered Thermal Interface
(ETI) that fits neatly between a CPU lid and heat
sink (or waterblock) to keep CPUs cooler. Unlike
greases, metallic thermal interface pads or liquid
metal alloys, Indigo Xtreme™ is a self-contained and
sealed structure, deploying a Phase Change Metallic
Alloy (PCMA) which reflows and fills surface
asperities on the CPU lid and heat sink. The
resultant interfacial layer is void-free and robust,
with low thermal contact and bulk resistance.
How Indigo Xtreme™ Works
The overall thermal performance of a thermal
interface is the sum of the bulk thermal resistance
(which is the inverse of bulk thermal conductance)
of the material and its two surface contact
resistances (on both the CPU lid and heat sink).
Greases have good surface wetting properties and
therefore they exhibit low contact resistance;
however, they have high bulk thermal resistances.
Metallic pads possess low bulk thermal resistances,
but surface oxidation limits their surface wetting
ability, resulting in higher contact resistance.
Indigo Xtreme™ achieves high thermal performance
through the optimized deployment of molten,
oxide-free PCMA, thereby yielding low contact
resistance and low bulk resistance.
At the heart of the one-of-a-kind Indigo Xtreme™ ETI
is a proven PCMA deployment structure. When heated
(see Installation Guide), the sealed deployment
structure directs flowing PCMA into CPU lid and heat
sink micro-surface asperities while flushing out
entrapped air. The asperity filling PCMA creates a
corrosion-resistant hermetic (airtight) seal between
the lid and heat sink, resulting in long-term
reliability.
How to Use Indigo Xtreme™
The Indigo Xtreme™ ETI is offered as part of an
Engineered Thermal Interface Kit. This kit includes
several cleanroom-grade surface cleaning products to
ensure the highest quality deployment possible. Once
the CPU lid and heat sink surfaces have been
prepared, the ETI is aligned to the lid and held in
place with its own adhesive layer. Following the
bolting of the heat sink to the motherboard, the ETI
may be reflowed by simply running the CPU under load
as seen in the
Installation Guide.
Indigo Xtreme™ on Intel Core™ 2 Duo Processor
Prior to reflow:
After reflow:
The revolutionary Indigo "flow-in-place"
technology deploys, controls and contains the phase
change metal alloy during reflow to create an
optimized, void-free thermal interface that is
unsurpassed in performance and reliability.
High performance thermal management solutions (heat pipes, liquid
cooling, etc) can be limited by the thermal interface material.
Indigo Xtreme™ is the first engineered thermal interface that delivers a
void-free, all metal thermal pathway at the critical junction between
the processor lid and the primary thermal management hardware.
How It Compares
Indigo Xtreme™ is a precision engineered Phase Change Metal Alloy
(PCMA) for professional, high-end applications pushing the
heat flux envelope.
With its excellent
surface wetting and high
bulk conductivity (as much as 3 times better than the best aluminum
and silver-filled greases), Indigo Xtreme™ offers dramatically lower
thermal resistance than competing products.
The graph below illustrates increasing CPU wattage and corresponding
junction temperature rise with the highest performance
thermal interface solutions available today.
The Professional Choice
Indigo Xtreme™ is the professional's choice for the most demanding
cooling challenges, and is highly recommended for CPU applications of
150 watts and above. If you operate your CPU at stock wattages and
frequencies, Indigo Xtreme™ may not provide significant advantage, and a
legacy solution may be adequate for your needs. The extraordinary
cooling power of Indigo Xtreme™ is specifically designed for serious
overclocking or other challenging applications. With increasing
wattage or heat flux, the temperature difference between simple
polymeric (grease) solutions and the extra cooling ability of Indigo
Xtreme™ increases sharply.
The chart below highlights the performance advantage of Indigo
Xtreme™ at only 130 watts of
dissipated power with an Intel Core™ i7 CPU. Junction-to-sink
temperature rise of Indigo Xtreme™ is almost 4 degrees better than that
achieved by Arctic Silver 5.
As dissipated power increases, Indigo Xtreme ™
achieves even greater cooling performance.
ASTM D5470, a
standard industry test for quantifying the thermal impedance
(resistance) of thermal interface solutions, was used to obtain both
thermal contact resistance and bulk thermal resistance values for Indigo
Xtreme™ and for the former industry leaders seen in the table and chart
below.
| |
Indigo Xtreme™ |
Shin Etsu X23-7762 |
Arctic Silver 5 |
Coollabs MetalPad |
| Composition |
PCMA composite |
Aluminum-filled Polymer |
Silver-filled Polymer |
Low Melt Alloy |
| Shimmed Bondline Thickness (mils) |
~2 |
~11 |
~11 |
~1 |
| Bulk Resistance |
0.028 |
0.0631 |
0.2301 |
0.015 |
| Contact Resistance |
0.012 |
0.0631 |
0.0791 |
0.305 |
| Overall Resistance |
0.04 |
0.1261 |
0.3091 |
0.320 |
Notes:
1. S. Narumanchi, “Thermal Interface Materials for Power
Electronics Applications”, ITherm Proceedings, 2008
2. R. Russo, et al., “Thermal Performance Differences Between ASTM
D5470 and “Overclocker” Methods”, IMAPS Thermal
Advanced Technology Workshop (ATW) Proceedings, 2007
An optimal thermal interface solution possesses both a low contact
resistance and a low bulk resistance (the inverse of bulk thermal
conductivity). Indigo Xtreme™ achieves high thermal performance through
the optimized deployment of molten, oxide-free PCMA, thereby yielding
low contact resistance and high bulk conductivity.
Total thermal resistance is the combination of bulk
and contact resistances.
Additionally, bulk thermal conductivity was measured (by the cited US
government and universary labs above) for the polymeric grease compounds
(Shin Etsu X23-7762 and Arctic Silver 5). The Shin Etsu product tested
in line with the manufacturer specifications (within measurement
accuracy).
Interestingly, the labs measured Arctic Silver 5's bulk thermal
conductivity to be 0.941 and 1.12 W/mK, figures which are far lower than
the manufacturer's claim of >8 W/mk
(>350,000W/m2 °C at 0.001 inch layer).
The increased contact resistance of Coollab's MetalPad may be due to
inadequate pad thickness to accommodate a 1 mil BLT and surface
asperities of the test blocks.
The best performance:
Indigo Xtreme™ is the clear winner over all alternatives for a
high-performance thermal interface solution.