Thermal Pad from the company Thermal Grizzly. In computers and electronics, Thermal Pads are preformed rectangular pieces made of solid material (often based on paraffin wax or silicone) that are usually placed on the underside of heatsinks to help transfer heat away from the component being cooled (such as a CPU or other chip). They are an alternative to thermal paste, serving as a thermal interface material. AMD and Intel have included thermal pads on the bottoms of heatsinks that accompany some of their processors, as they are easier to install.