Phonon Transport In Thin Film Research Articles

Thermoelectric Applications of Low-Dimensional Carbon Nanostructures with Acoustically Mismatched Boundaries

Thermoelectric applications of low-dimensional carbon nanostructures offer new ways to manipulate the electron and phonon properties of a given material. High-resolution Raman spectroscopy of ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator structures reveals multiple peaks in the spectral range from 50 cm−1 to 160 cm−1. The peak positions are consistent with the theoretical predictions and indicate the confined nature of phonon-transport in thin films and superlattices with a finite acoustic mismatch between layers. This opens up a novel turning capability for optimization of the thermoelectric properties of low-dimensional structures.

Investigation of the full spectrum phonon lifetime in thin silicon films from the bulk spectral phonon mean-free-path distribution by using kinetic theory

Phonon dynamics in nanostructures is critically important to thermoelectric and optoelectronic devices because it determines the transport and other crucial properties. However, accurately evaluating the phonon lifetimes is extremely difficult. This study reports on the development of a new semi-empirical method to estimate the full-spectrum phonon lifetimes in thin silicon films at room temperature based on the experimental data on the phonon mean-free-path spectrum in bulk silicon and a phenomenological consideration of phonon transport in thin films. The bulk of this work describes the theory and the validation; then, we discuss the trend of the phonon lifetimes in thin silicon films when their thicknesses decrease.

Surface scattering controlled heat conduction in semiconductor thin films

Phonon-surface scattering is the fundamental mechanism behind thermal transport phenomena at the nanoscale. Despite its significance, typical approaches to describe the interaction of phonons with surfaces do not consider all relevant physical quantities involved in the phonon-surface interaction, namely, phonon momentum, incident angle, surface roughness, and correlation length. Here, we predict thermal conduction properties of thin films by considering an accurate description of phonon-surface scattering effects based on the rigorous Beckmann-Kirchhoff scattering theory extended with surface shadowing. We utilize a Boltzmann transport based reduced mean-free-path model for phonon transport in thin-films to predict the wavelength and mean-free-path heat spectra in Si and SiGe films for different surface conditions and show how the thermal energy distribution can be tailored by the surface properties. Using the predicted wavelength spectra, we also introduce a measure to quantify phonon-confinement effects and show an enhanced confinement in Ge alloyed Si thin films. The impact of surface roughness and correlation lengths on thermal conductivities is also studied, and our numerical predictions show excellent agreement with experimental measurements. The results allow to elucidate and quantitatively predict the amount of thermal energy carried by different phonons at the nanoscale, which can be used to design improved optoelectronic and thermoelectric devices.

Thermal Characteristics and Phonon Transport in Diamond and Silicon Thin Films

The effect of temperature oscillation at the film edge on the phonon transport is examined in two-dimensional silicon and diamond films. A numerical solution of transient frequency-dependent Boltzmann equation is presented to account for the phonon transport in the thin films. Three different frequencies of temperature oscillation are incorporated in the analysis to demonstrate the thermal response of thin films to temperature oscillation. It is found that equivalent equilibrium temperature demonstrates diffusive behavior in the close region of the film edge as similar to those observed for the diffusive limit. This behavior is associated with the ineffective contribution of the in-phase phonons to the phonon scattering in the film. As the distance increases along the film width, the influence of temperature oscillation on the equivalent equilibrium temperature becomes negligibly small.

Phonon Transport in Thin Film: Ballistic Phonon Contribution to Energy Transport

Energy transport in dielectric thin films is mainly governed by the phonon transport across the edges of the film. Depending on the phonon frequencies and the film thickness, some of the phonons do not undergo scattering in the film, which results in ballistic effect on the energy transport in the film. In the present study, the influence of ballistic phonons on the energy transport in silicon thin film is investigated for a spatially varying temperature source at the film edge. The Gaussian temperature distribution at one edge of the film is considered to account for the spatial variation of temperature. The influence of film thickness on energy transport is also incorporated in the analysis. It is found that the Gaussian parameter, defining the spatial distribution of temperature at the film edge, significantly influences equivalent equilibrium temperature variation in the film. Equivalent equilibrium temperature reduces sharply across the film as the film thickness reduces.

Cross-plane phonon transport in thin films

We predict the cross-plane phonon thermal conductivity of Stillinger-Weber silicon thin films as thin as 17.4 nm using the lattice Boltzmann method. The thin films are modeled using bulk phonon properties obtained from harmonic and anharmonic lattice dynamics calculations. We use this approach, which considers all of the phonons in the first Brillouin-zone, to assess the suitability of common assumptions. Specifically, we assess the validity of: (i) neglecting the contributions of optical modes, (ii) the isotropic approximation, (iii) assuming an averaged bulk mean-free path, and (iv) the Matthiessen rule. Because the frequency-dependent contributions to thermal conductivity change as the film thickness is reduced, assumptions that are valid for bulk are not necessarily valid for thin films.

In-plane phonon transport in thin films

The in-plane phonon thermal conductivities of argon and silicon thin films are predicted from the Boltzmann transport equation under the relaxation time approximation. We model the thin films using bulk phonon properties obtained from harmonic and anharmonic lattice dynamics calculations. The input required for the lattice dynamics calculations is obtained from interatomic potentials: Lennard-Jones for argon and Stillinger–Weber for silicon. The effect of the boundaries is included by considering only phonons with wavelengths that fit within the film and adjusting the relaxation times to account for mode-dependent, diffuse boundary scattering. Our model does not rely on the isotropic approximation or any fitting parameters. For argon films thicker than 4.3 nm and silicon films thicker than 17.4 nm, the use of bulk phonon properties is found to be appropriate and the predicted reduction in the in-plane thermal conductivity is in good agreement with results obtained from molecular dynamics simulation and experiment. We include the effects of boundary scattering without employing the Matthiessen rule. We find that the Matthiessen rule yields thermal conductivity predictions that are at most 12% lower than our more accurate results. Our results show that the average of the bulk phonon mean free path is an inadequate metric to use when modeling the thermal conductivity reduction in thin films.

NONEQUILIBRIUM PHONON AND ELECTRON TRANSPORT IN HETEROSTRUCTURES AND SUPERLATTICES

Electron and phonon transport in nanostructures is characterized by interface effects and can deviate significantly from the assumption of local thermal equilibrium underlying the transport equations at macroscale. In this article, we elucidate some basic nonequilibrium characteristics for phonon and electron transport in thin films and superlattices. Based on a discussion of the thermal boundary resistance at a single interface, the nonequilibrium nature of phonon transport and the consistency of temperature definition are emphasized. Using a consistent definition for temperature, we obtain simplified expressions for phonon transport in thin films and superlattices, and give examples to illustrate the effectiveness of the approximation by comparing the thermal conductivity of thin films and superlattices obtained from solving the Boltzmann equation with the current approximation. Similar nonequilibrium processes occur for the electron transport in nanostructures. An example is given on concurrent electron and phonon transport in double heterojunction structures, considering the nonequilibrium transport processes both within the electron and phonon subsystems and between them. Finally, the ballistic-diffusive equations are introduced as an approximation to the Boltzmann equation. These equations should be applicable to transport problems from nano- to mascroscales, as well as for fast temporal processes.