Experimental metrology to obtain thermal phonon transmission coefficients at solid interfaces
Abstract
Interfaces play an essential role in phonon-mediated heat conduction in solids, impacting applications ranging from thermoelectric waste heat recovery to heat dissipation in electronics. From the microscopic perspective, interfacial phonon transport is described by transmission coefficients that link vibrational modes in the materials composing the interface. However, direct experimental determination of these coefficients is challenging because most experiments provide a mode-averaged interface conductance that obscures the microscopic detail. Here, we report a metrology to extract thermal phonon transmission coefficients at solid interfaces using ab initio phonon transport modeling and a thermal characterization technique, time-domain thermoreflectance. In combination with transmission electron microscopy characterization of the interface, our approach allows us to link the atomic structure of an interface to the spectral content of the heat crossing it. Our work provides a useful perspective on the microscopic processes governing interfacial heat conduction.
Additional Information
© 2017 American Physical Society. Received 23 December 2016; revised manuscript received 17 March 2017; published 17 May 2017. The authors thank L. Lindsay, and N. Mingo for providing the first-principles calculations for silicon, Nathan Lewis group for the access to the ellipsometer, and the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) at Caltech for the availability of critical cleanroom facilities. X. C. thanks Melissa A. Melendes, Matthew H. Sullivan, and Carol M. Garland from the KNI for fabrication assistance, and Victoria W. Dix from the Lewis group at Caltech for the help with the ellipsometer measurements. This work was sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CBET 1254213, and by Boeing under the Boeing-Caltech Strategic Research & Development Relationship Agreement. C.H. and X.C. contributed equally to this work.Attached Files
Published - PhysRevB.95.205423.pdf
Submitted - 1509.07806v1.pdf
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Fresnel transmission coefficients for thermal phonons at solid interfaces
- Eprint ID
- 63924
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20160125-101850007
- NSF
- CBET-1254213
- Boeing-Caltech Strategic Research & Development Relationship Agreement
- Created
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2016-01-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute