Overview
Electronic devices are often comprised of a variety of materials such as semiconductors, metal traces, ceramic substrates, heat sinks, and plastic packaging. The emissivity of these materials can vary significantly.
To accurately measure the temperature of these surfaces, it is necessary to compensate for each material’s emissivity. This can often be performed accurately on non-metal surfaces using Emissivity Tables or Region Emissivity in the Thermalyze software. This process involves heating electronic devices to a known control temperature and then performing an emissivity measurement in software.
The emissivity of non-coated metallic surfaces is often very low (below 0.20). The emissivity of polished gold, for example, can be below 0.02. For low-emissivity materials, software emissivity compensation alone is susceptible to significant errors due to variations in surface emissivity and errors in the control temperature measurement process.
A more reliable method of compensating for metal surface emissivity is to first increase the surface emissivity by applying a thin polymer coating using an airbrush. The coating increases the surface emissivity to approximately 0.50, depending on coating thickness and uniformity. After the coating is applied, Emissivity Tables or Region Emissivity software compensation can then be performed to obtain accurate temperature measurements.
Because the coating thickness is only 1-2 microns, its insulating layer affects are negligible. The coating is optically transparent but diffuses light. It is also nonflammable, low-toxicity, and can withstand continuous temperatures of up to 200°C (392°F). The coating can easily be removed with a nonflammable and low-toxicity solvent.
Applications
- Increase emissivity of bare semiconductor die for junction temperature estimation
- Increase emissivity of metal surfaces for lock-in thermography testing
- Create uniform surface emissivity
Specifications
Setup, Operation, & Maintenance
Additional product resources are linked under Documents at the bottom of this webpage.
Troubleshooting
Click the link below to view the Support Forum posts for this topic.
[Insert link here]