Thermal-sprayed metallic conformal coatings used as heat spreaders

A method of dissipating heat from an electronic device having an enclosure and at least one heat-generating source received within the enclosure, the enclosure having one or more parts, and at least one of the parts having an exterior surface and an opposing interior surface, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) covering at least a portion of the interior surface of said one of the enclosure parts with a conformal metallic layer by the steps of:
• (i) providing a feed material comprising a metal or metal alloy;
• (ii) heating said feed material of step (i) into a molten state;
• (iii) atomizing said feed material of step (ii) while in said molten state;
• (iv) spraying the atomized feed material of step (ii) while in said molten state on said portion of the interior surface of said one of the enclosure part to form a self-adherent coating of said metal thereon;
• and
• (v) solidifying said coating of step (iii) to form said conformal metallic layer;
• and
• (b) disposing the conformal metallic layer covered on said one of the enclosure parts and the source in heat transfer adjacency with each other.