Phonon conduction in silicon nanobeams

Woosung Park, Dongsuk D. Shin, Soo Jin Kim, Joseph S. Katz, Joonsuk Park, Chae Hyuck Ahn, Takashi Kodama, Mehdi Asheghi, Thomas W. Kenny, Kenneth E. Goodson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite extensive studies on thermal transport in thin silicon films, there has been little work studying the thermal conductivity of single-crystal rectangular, cross-sectional nanobeams that are commonly used in many applications such as nanoelectronics (FinFETs), nano-electromechanical systems, and nanophotonics. Here, we report experimental data on the thermal conductivity of silicon nanobeams of a thickness of ∼78 nm and widths of ∼65 nm, 170 nm, 270 nm, 470 nm, and 970 nm. The experimental data agree well (within ∼9%) with the predictions of a thermal conductivity model that uses a combination of bulk mean free paths obtained from ab initio calculations and a suppression function derived from the kinetic theory. This work quantifies the impact of nanobeam aspect ratios on thermal transport and establishes a criterion to differentiate between thin films and beams in studying thermal transport. The thermal conductivity of a 78 nm × 65 nm nanobeam is ∼32 W m-1 K-1, which is roughly a factor of two smaller than that of a 78 nm thick film.

Original languageEnglish
Article number213102
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume110
Issue number21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 May 22
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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