Thermal conduction in metalized tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta–C) films on silicon

Abstract

Thermal conductivities of filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) deposited tetrahedral amorphous carbon films, ranging from 20 to 100 nm, are measured using pulsed photothermal reflectance technique. The internal thermal conductivity of the tetrahedral amorphous carbon film is 4.7 W/m K. No thermal conductivity size effect is observed. The thermal boundary resistance between tetrahedral amorphous carbon with gold and silicon is 1.9×10 −8 m 2K/W, which suggest good contact between tetrahedral amorphous carbon film with gold and silicon are achieved. Our measurement technique is calibrated by measuring silicon-dioxide and gold films’ thermal conductivities. Internal thermal conductivity of tetrahedral amorphous carbon film is about four times higher than silicon-dioxide's internal thermal conductivity.