Indium Corporation offers thermal interfaces to help facilitate the burn-in process for ICs (integrated circuits). This process is an accelerated stress test used to weed out bad components. Please read this for a great explanation of the need for accelerated stress tests (burn-in) for ICs. As shown in the chart, a high rate of component infant mortality occurs during the first year of use, the accelerated cycling is used to cull the bad ICs so they don’t pollute the batch of otherwise normal ICs.
The accelerated cycling consists of increased voltage and temperature. The elevated temperature is applied through the top of the IC with a heater element, and that heater uses a thermal interface material to evenly and efficiently transfer heat into the IC. The thermal interface needs to have a low resistance, high thermal conductivity, and enough compliance to bridge the (less than perfect) gap between the top of the chip and the bottom of the burn in heater.
The preferred thermal interface for this application is indium, and we can help you figure out which indium-based thermal interface is best for your burn-in application.