Thermal phonon boundary scattering in anisotropic thin films
- Creators
-
Minnich, A. J.
Abstract
Boundary scattering of thermal phonons in thin solid films is typically analyzed using Fuchs-Sondheimer theory, which provides a simple equation to calculate the reduction of thermal conductivity as a function of the film thickness. However, this widely used equation is not applicable to highly anisotropic solids like graphite because it assumes the phonon dispersion is isotropic. Here, we derive a generalization of the Fuchs-Sondheimer equation for solids with arbitrary dispersion relations and examine its predictions for graphite. We find that the isotropic equation vastly overestimates the boundary scattering that occurs in thin graphite films due to the highly anisotropic group velocity, and that graphite can maintain its high in-plane thermal conductivity even in thin films with thicknesses as small as 10 nm.
Additional Information
© 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. Received 3 August 2015; accepted 23 October 2015; published online 3 November 2015. The author thanks Lucas Lindsay for providing the graphite dispersion and for useful discussions. This work was sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CBET CAREER 1254213 and by Boeing under the Boeing-Caltech Strategic Research & Development Relationship Agreement.Attached Files
Published - 1.4935160.pdf
Submitted - 1508.00611v1.pdf
Files
Name | Size | Download all |
---|---|---|
md5:0eedafbe1bb6cf275ab6664982ce85b8
|
776.3 kB | Preview Download |
md5:c5d8fef3d863f65754547d16c17ea106
|
380.3 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 61980
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20151109-092635206
- NSF
- CBET 1254213
- Boeing Company Strategic Research and Development Relationship
- Created
-
2015-11-09Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field