Screen and stencil printed graphene heat spreaders on printed circuit boards for lowering of light emitting diode temperatures

Reinhard Kaindl; David Dergez; Tushar Gupta; Songfeng Pei; Peng Xiang Hou; Jinhong Du; Chang Liu; Bernhard Fickl; Martin Nastran; Ya Liu; Alexander Blümel; Dominik Eder; Johan Liu; Wencai Ren; Paul Hartmann; Wolfgang Waldhauser; Dietmar Kieslinger; Bernhard C. Bayer

doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821

Screen and stencil printed graphene heat spreaders on printed circuit boards for lowering of light emitting diode temperatures

Reinhard Kaindl (Corresponding author)
, David Dergez
, Tushar Gupta
, Songfeng Pei
, Peng Xiang Hou
, Jinhong Du
, Chang Liu
, Bernhard Fickl
, Martin Nastran
, Ya Liu
, Alexander Blümel
, Dominik Eder
, Johan Liu
, Wencai Ren
, Paul Hartmann
, Wolfgang Waldhauser
, Dietmar Kieslinger
, Bernhard C. Bayer (Corresponding author)

Physics of Nanostructured Materials

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Continuously higher integration levels in (opto-)electronics require new solutions and materials for thermal management of excess heat. Here we investigate the integration of graphene-based heat spreader films with printed circuit board (PCB) assembled, high-power light emitting diodes (LEDs), as used in modern automotive lighting, using industrially highly scalable screen printing and stencil printing of the graphene-based films. We compare screen/stencil printing of graphene heat spreaders on the PCBs from archetypical water- and ester-based inks and characterize the resulting graphene heat spreaders with respect to printing fidelity and resolution, film microstructure, electrical and thermal properties and their performance in lowering LED temperatures during LED operation. Importantly, we use only comparatively low graphene film curing temperatures (150 °C) that are compatible with industrial PCB/surface-mounted-device (SMD) LED integration processes. We find that screen-printed, ester-based graphene heat spreaders result in a modest reduction of LED temperature during operation of on average − 2 K with a maximum reduction of −4 K. Generally, our work establishes the feasibility of scalable screen and stencil printing for integration of graphene films with state-of-the-art PCB/SMD assemblies.

Original language	English
Article number	132821
Number of pages	8
Journal	Surface and Coatings Technology
Volume	517
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2025

Funding

We acknowledge funding from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) grant number 857181-GRATEC and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (174321KYSB20160011) . We acknowledge the use of facilities at the University Service Centre for Transmission Electron Microscopy (USTEM) and the Analytic Instrumentation Center (AIC) at TU Wien. Y. Liu and J. Liu acknowledge financial support from Area of Advance: Production from Chalmers University of Technology. The authors acknowledge TU Wien Bibliothek for financial support through its Open Access Funding Programme.

Funders	Funder number
Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH (FFG)	857181-GRATEC
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)	174321KYSB20160011

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

104011 Materials chemistry
103020 Surface physics

Keywords

Graphene
Heat spreaders
Light emitting diodes
Screen printing
Stencil printing

Access to Document

10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821Licence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Kaindl, R., Dergez, D., Gupta, T., Pei, S., Hou, P. X., Du, J., Liu, C., Fickl, B., Nastran, M., Liu, Y., Blümel, A., Eder, D., Liu, J., Ren, W., Hartmann, P., Waldhauser, W., Kieslinger, D., & Bayer, B. C. (2025). Screen and stencil printed graphene heat spreaders on printed circuit boards for lowering of light emitting diode temperatures. Surface and Coatings Technology, 517, Article 132821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821

@article{32b83455110647049089790800840cfc,

title = "Screen and stencil printed graphene heat spreaders on printed circuit boards for lowering of light emitting diode temperatures",

abstract = "Continuously higher integration levels in (opto-)electronics require new solutions and materials for thermal management of excess heat. Here we investigate the integration of graphene-based heat spreader films with printed circuit board (PCB) assembled, high-power light emitting diodes (LEDs), as used in modern automotive lighting, using industrially highly scalable screen printing and stencil printing of the graphene-based films. We compare screen/stencil printing of graphene heat spreaders on the PCBs from archetypical water- and ester-based inks and characterize the resulting graphene heat spreaders with respect to printing fidelity and resolution, film microstructure, electrical and thermal properties and their performance in lowering LED temperatures during LED operation. Importantly, we use only comparatively low graphene film curing temperatures (150 °C) that are compatible with industrial PCB/surface-mounted-device (SMD) LED integration processes. We find that screen-printed, ester-based graphene heat spreaders result in a modest reduction of LED temperature during operation of on average − 2 K with a maximum reduction of −4 K. Generally, our work establishes the feasibility of scalable screen and stencil printing for integration of graphene films with state-of-the-art PCB/SMD assemblies.",

keywords = "Graphene, Heat spreaders, Light emitting diodes, Screen printing, Stencil printing",

author = "Reinhard Kaindl and David Dergez and Tushar Gupta and Songfeng Pei and Hou, \{Peng Xiang\} and Jinhong Du and Chang Liu and Bernhard Fickl and Martin Nastran and Ya Liu and Alexander Bl{\"u}mel and Dominik Eder and Johan Liu and Wencai Ren and Paul Hartmann and Wolfgang Waldhauser and Dietmar Kieslinger and Bayer, \{Bernhard C.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Authors",

year = "2025",

month = dec,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821",

language = "English",

volume = "517",

journal = "Surface and Coatings Technology",

issn = "0257-8972",

}

Kaindl, R, Dergez, D, Gupta, T, Pei, S, Hou, PX, Du, J, Liu, C, Fickl, B, Nastran, M, Liu, Y, Blümel, A, Eder, D, Liu, J, Ren, W, Hartmann, P, Waldhauser, W, Kieslinger, D & Bayer, BC 2025, 'Screen and stencil printed graphene heat spreaders on printed circuit boards for lowering of light emitting diode temperatures', Surface and Coatings Technology, vol. 517, 132821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821

TY - JOUR

T1 - Screen and stencil printed graphene heat spreaders on printed circuit boards for lowering of light emitting diode temperatures

AU - Kaindl, Reinhard

AU - Dergez, David

AU - Gupta, Tushar

AU - Pei, Songfeng

AU - Hou, Peng Xiang

AU - Du, Jinhong

AU - Liu, Chang

AU - Fickl, Bernhard

AU - Nastran, Martin

AU - Liu, Ya

AU - Blümel, Alexander

AU - Eder, Dominik

AU - Liu, Johan

AU - Ren, Wencai

AU - Hartmann, Paul

AU - Waldhauser, Wolfgang

AU - Kieslinger, Dietmar

AU - Bayer, Bernhard C.

PY - 2025/12/1

Y1 - 2025/12/1

N2 - Continuously higher integration levels in (opto-)electronics require new solutions and materials for thermal management of excess heat. Here we investigate the integration of graphene-based heat spreader films with printed circuit board (PCB) assembled, high-power light emitting diodes (LEDs), as used in modern automotive lighting, using industrially highly scalable screen printing and stencil printing of the graphene-based films. We compare screen/stencil printing of graphene heat spreaders on the PCBs from archetypical water- and ester-based inks and characterize the resulting graphene heat spreaders with respect to printing fidelity and resolution, film microstructure, electrical and thermal properties and their performance in lowering LED temperatures during LED operation. Importantly, we use only comparatively low graphene film curing temperatures (150 °C) that are compatible with industrial PCB/surface-mounted-device (SMD) LED integration processes. We find that screen-printed, ester-based graphene heat spreaders result in a modest reduction of LED temperature during operation of on average − 2 K with a maximum reduction of −4 K. Generally, our work establishes the feasibility of scalable screen and stencil printing for integration of graphene films with state-of-the-art PCB/SMD assemblies.

AB - Continuously higher integration levels in (opto-)electronics require new solutions and materials for thermal management of excess heat. Here we investigate the integration of graphene-based heat spreader films with printed circuit board (PCB) assembled, high-power light emitting diodes (LEDs), as used in modern automotive lighting, using industrially highly scalable screen printing and stencil printing of the graphene-based films. We compare screen/stencil printing of graphene heat spreaders on the PCBs from archetypical water- and ester-based inks and characterize the resulting graphene heat spreaders with respect to printing fidelity and resolution, film microstructure, electrical and thermal properties and their performance in lowering LED temperatures during LED operation. Importantly, we use only comparatively low graphene film curing temperatures (150 °C) that are compatible with industrial PCB/surface-mounted-device (SMD) LED integration processes. We find that screen-printed, ester-based graphene heat spreaders result in a modest reduction of LED temperature during operation of on average − 2 K with a maximum reduction of −4 K. Generally, our work establishes the feasibility of scalable screen and stencil printing for integration of graphene films with state-of-the-art PCB/SMD assemblies.

KW - Graphene

KW - Heat spreaders

KW - Light emitting diodes

KW - Screen printing

KW - Stencil printing

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019330418

U2 - 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821

DO - 10.1016/j.surfcoat.2025.132821

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105019330418

SN - 0257-8972

VL - 517

JO - Surface and Coatings Technology

JF - Surface and Coatings Technology

M1 - 132821

ER -

Screen and stencil printed graphene heat spreaders on printed circuit boards for lowering of light emitting diode temperatures

Abstract

Funding

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this