Purpose of foil tape on heatsink (SF114-32)

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PlanetMercury
PlanetMercury Member Posts: 19 Troubleshooter
edited November 2023 in 2020 Archives
When opening up my SF114-32 to upgrade the SSD, I accidentally pierced some of the foil tape stuck on the heatsink with the plastic pry tool. So it has a rip in it, but is still otherwise connected to both the heatsink and motherboard, and no part is shorting with anything else that it shouldn't.  Laptop still functions as normal.

My question is, what's the purpose of that tape?  If it's for EMI shielding, you'd think the metal heatsink it's on would already provide shielding there?  Or does copper not?  Is it merely to electrically conduct from the heatsink to the ground on the motherboard?  Then it wouldn't need to be that big.  Should I be worrying about replacing it?  It's plain old conductive foil tape so I could order some from ebay but only if I had to.

Thanks in advance all :)

Best Answer

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,779 Trailblazer
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    It acts as a shield ground connection between the two. Shouldn't make much functional difference to leave it as is.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 31,779 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Options
    It acts as a shield ground connection between the two. Shouldn't make much functional difference to leave it as is.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • PlanetMercury
    PlanetMercury Member Posts: 19 Troubleshooter
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    Thanks billsey

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