Decrease Costs and Improve Reliability with Aavid Max Clip System™

Today we're going to talk about the Aavid Max Clip System. The Aavid Max Clip System is a high performance, low cost thermal solution for discrete power semiconductors. These easy to use, robust attachments save on labor and hardware costs and increase design flexibility as they eliminate the need for mounting holes, screws or rivets.

And because they apply more uniform pressure, they provide better overall thermal performance and reliability. To assemble your Max Clip heat sink, simply place your thermal interface material and device on the same side as the Max Clip groove detail. You may want to use a fixture for multiple assemblies.

Press the clip down into the groove and it will lock evenly into place. Let's try that same assembly again but with a screw and tap tool. It takes more time to drill and tap the heat sink before placing the thermal interface material and additional time to screw the device down afterwards. Even in production, automating the process may speed these actions but there is still extra operations for every device placed.

Here we have identical heat sink assemblies. One with a Max Clip and the other utilizing a screw. We can use liquid crystal display paper to show how much heat is being transferred from the device to the heat sink and surrounding ambient air. Green and yellow indicates cooler temperatures than the blue which shows the hottest areas.

As you can see, the Max Clip Heat Sink is much hotter meaning that it is transferring more heat away from the device therefore keeping the device cooler. Aavid offers over 20 Max Clip sizes and over 50 standard tool profiles available in any extrudable length. Custom profiles are also available to suit more specific needs. The Max Clip system is designed to accommodate most semiconductor packages.

Contact Aavid or one of Aavid's authorized distributors to learn more.