Highly Vertically Oriented Graphene Microstrip Pads With Ultrahigh Through-Plane Thermal Conductivity and Ultralow Compressive Modulus for Efficient Heat Dissipation

The increasing heat generation in microelectronic devices demands efficient thermal interface materials (TIMs) to prevent overheating. However, the persistent trade-off between high through-plane thermal conductivity and excellent compliance remains a fundamental barrier for TIMs. Herein, we prepare a vertically oriented graphene microstrip pad (GMP) with both ultrahigh thermal conductivity and ultralow compressive modulus by aligning graphene microstrips vertically and encapsulating them in silicone rubber. The graphene microstrips align vertically with excellent orientation, forming continuous pathways for heat conduction. By optimizing the graphene content to 60 wt.% (GMP60), we achieve an ultrahigh through-plane thermal conductivity of 565.92 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹. Benefiting from the low stiffness of graphene microstrips, GMP60 exhibits an ultralow compressive modulus of 115.16 kPa and a total thermal resistance as low as 0.028 in² K W⁻¹, thereby overcoming the traditional thermal-mechanical trade-off. Practical cooling tests confirm the superior performance of GMP60. It lowers the central processing unit (CPU) core temperature by 12°C under full-load operation and reduces the power chip temperature by 18.2°C. This work establishes a new paradigm for overcoming thermal-mechanical mismatches in next-generation electronic thermal management.