Boltzmann transport equation simulation of phonon transport across GaN/AlN interface

Abstract

The miniaturization of devices makes interfacial resistance to heat dissipation more and more obvious. Therefore, it is important to study interfacial thermal transport systematically. A modified higher harmonic inelastic model is proposed to describe the inelastic scattering at the interface. Combined with this interface model, the thermal transport of interface structures is studied by the Boltzmann transport equation. The results show that the introduction of inelastic scattering enhances the heat flux contribution of low-frequency phonons, changes the phonon distribution near the interface, and enhances the phonon non-equilibrium. This demonstrates the importance of inelastic interfacial scattering in simulations. By analyzing the phonon distribution, it is found that temperature and thickness affect the interfacial heat transport through the redistribution of phonons. The redistribution has the opposite effect on the contribution of inelastic scattering. By studying ballistic phonons in the interface structure, it is found that the ballistic phonons are mainly concentrated in the low-frequency region. Due to the longer mean free path, the phonons with frequencies below 2.5 THz are more likely to maintain a ballistic transport state. Similar to nanoscale hotspots, strong quasi-ballistic transport hinders heat diffusion. The energy fraction of ballistic phonons increases by 49%, and the local effective thermal conductivity drops by 52%. This work studied the mechanism of interfacial thermal transport, and will be useful for future interface simulation.