(978) 686-6332  sales@nedc.com

Memory Chips, Heat, and Why Thermal Pads Matter More Than You Think

by | Dec 20, 2025 | Artificial Intelligence, Die Cutting, Thermal Pads, Waterjet Cutting

chip dram, thermal pad ready

chip dram, thermal pad ready

When people think about heat in electronics, CPUs and GPUs usually steal the spotlight. They’re fast, power-hungry, and undeniably hot. But in real-world electronics design, memory chips are often where thermal pads quietly do the most work—and where overlooking heat can shorten product life or cap performance.

Let’s break down the main types of memory chips, how they generate heat, and why thermal pads are far more common on memory than on CPUs.

The Main Types of Memory Chips

1. DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory)

DRAM is the system memory found in:

  • PCs and laptops (DDR4, DDR5)

  • Servers and data centers

  • Networking and industrial electronics

Thermal reality:
DRAM doesn’t usually run “hot” in absolute terms, but it is thermally sensitive. As frequency and density increase, heat impacts:

  • Signal integrity

  • Data retention

  • Long-term reliability

That’s why you’ll frequently see:

  • Thermal pads on server DIMMs

  • Pads coupling DRAM to heat spreaders or chassis walls

  • Pads on embedded DRAM near processors or FPGAs

2. NAND Flash Memory

NAND is used for long-term storage in:

  • SSDs

  • eMMC and UFS devices

  • Industrial and automotive storage

Thermal reality:
NAND is extremely sensitive to temperature over time. Elevated heat accelerates:

  • Data retention loss

  • Write endurance degradation

  • Bit error rates

It’s very common to see:

  • Thermal pads between NAND packages and metal shields

  • Pads transferring heat into the enclosure in industrial designs

  • Pads used alongside controllers to manage localized hot spots

3. HBM (High Bandwidth Memory)

HBM is stacked memory used alongside high-performance GPUs and accelerators.

Thermal reality:
HBM is dense, stacked, and fast—a perfect recipe for thermal buildup. Unlike traditional DRAM, heat has fewer paths to escape vertically.

HBM almost always relies on:

In these systems, memory cooling is just as critical as GPU cooling.

4. GDDR (Graphics Memory)

GDDR memory surrounds GPUs on graphics cards and accelerators.

Thermal reality:
GDDR runs hot due to:

  • High bandwidth

  • Constant activity

  • Proximity to GPUs

This is why nearly every modern GPU uses:

  • Thermal pads between GDDR chips and the heatsink

  • Pads with specific thickness and compressibility to ensure contact

  • Pads tuned to avoid mechanical stress on the PCB

This is one of the most visible and well-known uses of thermal pads.

Why You Rarely See Thermal Pads on CPUs

This surprises a lot of people.

CPUs typically do not use thermal pads—they use thermal grease or phase-change materials instead.

Here’s why:

  • CPUs have very high heat flux (lots of heat in a small area)

  • They require the lowest possible thermal resistance

  • Thermal grease fills microscopic voids far better than pads

  • CPUs are designed around direct metal-to-metal pressure

Thermal pads are:

  • Thicker

  • More compliant

  • Better for bridging gaps and tolerances

That makes them ideal for memory, but suboptimal for CPUs.

Why Memory Does Need Thermal Pads

Memory chips benefit from thermal pads because:

  1. They often sit at uneven heights

  2. They are spread across large areas

  3. They need electrical isolation

  4. They rely on indirect heat paths

  5. They tolerate slightly higher thermal resistance

Thermal pads excel at:

  • Absorbing mechanical tolerance stack-ups

  • Providing consistent pressure across many components

  • Electrically isolating while conducting heat

  • Moving heat into enclosures, frames, or secondary heatsinks

In other words, memory is a geometry problem as much as a thermal one—and thermal pads solve both.

What Kind of W/m-K in Thermal Pads for Memory Chips?

Typically, we see middle of the road W/m-K for thermal gap pads. For example, for us middle of the road is 2-5 W/m-K. These pads are not expected to be incredibly strong, but they are expected to have good performance at a good price point. For example, Bergquist Thermal Pad Gap Pad 3000S30/Gap Pad HC3.0 would be a good selection.

The Big Picture

  • CPUs → thermal grease, direct contact, extreme heat flux

  • Memory → thermal pads, compliance, distributed heat

  • As memory speeds and densities rise, thermal pads become non-optional

  • Poor memory cooling quietly degrades performance and lifespan long before outright failure

Thermal design isn’t just about the hottest chip on the board—it’s about the components that can’t afford long-term heat stress. And in modern electronics, memory sits squarely in that category.

Share this Article: