Mechanism of the Reduced Thermal Conductivity of Fishbone-Type Si Phononic Crystal Nanostructures

Abstract

The mechanism of the reduced thermal conductivity of fishbone-type phononic crystal (PnC) nanostructures, in which ballistic phonon transport is dominant, was investigated with consideration of both the wave and particle nature of phonons. Phononic band diagrams were calculated for an Si nanowire and a fishbone-type PnC structure with a period of 100 nm, and a clear reduction of the group velocity of phonons, because of a zone-folding effect, was shown. Air-suspended Si nanowires and fishbone-type PnC structures were fabricated by electron beam (EB) lithography, and their thermal conductivities were measured by use of the originally developed micro time-domain thermoreflectance method. The PnC structure had a much lower thermal conductivity. We measured the thermal conductivity of a variety of PnC structures with different fin widths to investigate the mechanism of the reduced thermal conductivity observed. The result indicates that the increase of the phonon traveling distance. as a result of the fins, also results in reduced thermal conductivity.