Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Experimental metrology to obtain thermal phonon transmission coefficients at solid interfaces

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)
  2. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  3. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA (United States)
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. But, 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. This work provides a useful perspective on the microscopic processes governing interfacial heat conduction.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1407989
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Journal Name: Physical Review B Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 95; ISSN 2469-9950; ISSN PRBMDO
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (77)

Energy dissipation and transport in nanoscale devices journal March 2010
Dynamical simulations of nonequilibrium processes — Heat flow and the Kapitza resistance across grain boundaries journal May 1997
Effects of temperature and disorder on thermal boundary conductance at solid–solid interfaces: Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations journal September 2007
Emerging challenges and materials for thermal management of electronics journal May 2014
Thermal Conductivity of Nanocrystalline Silicon: Importance of Grain Size and Frequency-Dependent Mean Free Paths journal June 2011
High-performance bulk thermoelectrics with all-scale hierarchical architectures journal September 2012
Graphene quilts for thermal management of high-power GaN transistors journal January 2012
Improved heat dissipation in gallium nitride light-emitting diodes with embedded graphene oxide pattern journal February 2013
Broadband phonon mean free path contributions to thermal conductivity measured using frequency domain thermoreflectance journal March 2013
Anisotropic failure of Fourier theory in time-domain thermoreflectance experiments journal October 2014
Quasi-ballistic thermal transport from nanoscale interfaces observed using ultrafast coherent soft X-ray beams journal November 2009
Effects of chemical bonding on heat transport across interfaces journal April 2012
Bonding-induced thermal conductance enhancement at inorganic heterointerfaces using nanomolecular monolayers journal November 2012
Crossover from incoherent to coherent phonon scattering in epitaxial oxide superlattices journal December 2013
Cool electronics journal January 2015
Improved apparatus for picosecond pump‐and‐probe optical measurements journal August 1996
Phonon wave-packet dynamics at semiconductor interfaces by molecular-dynamics simulation journal April 2002
Nanoscale thermal transport journal January 2003
Analysis of heat flow in layered structures for time-domain thermoreflectance journal December 2004
Intrinsic lattice thermal conductivity of semiconductors from first principles journal December 2007
Pulse accumulation, radial heat conduction, and anisotropic thermal conductivity in pump-probe transient thermoreflectance journal November 2008
Two-tint pump-probe measurements using a femtosecond laser oscillator and sharp-edged optical filters journal November 2008
Efficiency enhancement in seeded and self-amplified spontaneous emission free-electron lasers by means of a tapered wiggler journal June 2009
Extracting phonon thermal conductance across atomic junctions: Nonequilibrium Green’s function approach compared to semiclassical methods journal September 2009
Thermal conductance and phonon transmissivity of metal–graphite interfaces journal May 2010
Role of dispersion on phononic thermal boundary conductance journal October 2010
Simulation of phonon transmission through graphene and graphene nanoribbons with a Green’s function method journal November 2010
Layer-by-layer thermal conductivities of the Group III nitride films in blue/green light emitting diodes journal May 2012
Thermal conductance at atomically clean and disordered silicon/aluminum interfaces: A molecular dynamics simulation study journal September 2012
Investigation of size and electronic effects on Kapitza conductance with non-equilibrium molecular dynamics journal May 2013
Phonon and electron transport through Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 films and interfaces bounded by metals journal May 2013
Nanoscale thermal transport. II. 2003–2012 journal March 2014
Ballistic vs. diffusive heat transfer across nanoscopic films of layered crystals journal April 2014
Steady-state heat transport: Ballistic-to-diffusive with Fourier's law journal January 2015
Mechanisms of nonequilibrium electron-phonon coupling and thermal conductance at interfaces journal March 2015
Semi-analytical solution to the frequency-dependent Boltzmann transport equation for cross-plane heat conduction in thin films journal May 2015
Thermal resistance at interfaces journal December 1987
The Atomistic Green's Function Method: An Efficient Simulation Approach for Nanoscale Phonon Transport journal March 2007
On the Assumption of Detailed Balance in Prediction of Diffusive Transmission Probability During Interfacial Transport journal March 2010
Three-phonon phase space and lattice thermal conductivity in semiconductors journal March 2008
Size-dependent phonon transmission across dissimilar material interfaces journal March 2012
Isotope scattering of dispersive phonons in Ge journal January 1983
Phonon scattering at silicon crystal surfaces journal October 1987
Theory of the thermal boundary resistance between dissimilar lattices journal October 1990
Thermal conductivity and ballistic-phonon transport in the cross-plane direction of superlattices journal June 1998
Thermal conductance of interfaces between highly dissimilar materials journal April 2006
Frequency dependence of the thermal conductivity of semiconductor alloys journal August 2007
Thermal boundary resistance predictions from molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical calculations journal October 2009
Heat transport in silicon from first-principles calculations journal August 2011
Onset of nondiffusive phonon transport in transient thermal grating decay journal November 2011
Quasiballistic heat transfer studied using the frequency-dependent Boltzmann transport equation journal December 2011
Effect of lattice mismatch on phonon transmission and interface thermal conductance across dissimilar material interfaces journal August 2012
Two-channel model for nonequilibrium thermal transport in pump-probe experiments journal October 2013
Thermal boundary conductance across rough interfaces probed by molecular dynamics journal February 2014
Green's function studies of phonon transport across Si/Ge superlattices journal June 2014
Analytical interpretation of nondiffusive phonon transport in thermoreflectance thermal conductivity measurements journal August 2014
Finite-size effects on molecular dynamics interfacial thermal-resistance predictions journal August 2014
Nonlocal theory for heat transport at high frequencies journal November 2014
Analytical Green's function of the multidimensional frequency-dependent phonon Boltzmann equation journal December 2014
Thermal boundary conductance accumulation and interfacial phonon transmission: Measurements and theory journal January 2015
Superdiffusive heat conduction in semiconductor alloys. II. Truncated Lévy formalism for experimental analysis journal February 2015
Thermal transport across high-pressure semiconductor-metal transition in Si and Si 0.991 Ge 0.009 journal May 2015
Reconstructing phonon mean-free-path contributions to thermal conductivity using nanoscale membranes journal June 2015
Thermal transport by phonons and electrons in aluminum, silver, and gold from first principles journal February 2016
Role of Disorder and Anharmonicity in the Thermal Conductivity of Silicon-Germanium Alloys: A First-Principles Study journal January 2011
Thermal Conductivity Spectroscopy Technique to Measure Phonon Mean Free Paths journal August 2011
Direct Measurement of Room-Temperature Nondiffusive Thermal Transport Over Micron Distances in a Silicon Membrane journal January 2013
Role of Surface-Segregation-Driven Intermixing on the Thermal Transport through Planar Si / Ge Superlattices journal September 2013
Thermal boundary resistance journal July 1989
Simulation of Interfacial Phonon Transport in Si–Ge Heterostructures Using an Atomistic Green’s Function Method journal May 2006
Microscale Heat Conduction in Dielectric Thin Films journal February 1993
Examining Interfacial Diffuse Phonon Scattering Through Transient Thermoreflectance Measurements of Thermal Boundary Conductance journal February 2009
Ultralow Thermal Conductivity in Disordered, Layered WSe2 Crystals journal January 2007
High-Thermoelectric Performance of Nanostructured Bismuth Antimony Telluride Bulk Alloys journal May 2008
The Transport of heat Between Dissimilar Solids at low Temperatures journal March 1959
Thermal Interface Conductance Between Aluminum and Silicon by Molecular Dynamics Simulations journal February 2015
Probing and tuning inelastic phonon conductance across finite-thickness interface journal November 2014

Cited By (14)

A Review of Experimental and Computational Advances in Thermal Boundary Conductance and Nanoscale Thermal Transport across Solid Interfaces journal August 2019
Full-field thermal imaging of quasiballistic crosstalk reduction in nanoscale devices journal January 2018
Interface-based two-way tuning of the in-plane thermal transport in nanofilms journal March 2018
High-frequency measurements of thermophysical properties of thin films using a modified broad-band frequency domain thermoreflectance approach journal August 2018
Tutorial: Time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR) for thermal property characterization of bulk and thin film materials journal October 2018
Effects of metal silicide inclusion interface and shape on thermal transport in silicon nanocomposites journal July 2019
Perspective on ab initio phonon thermal transport journal August 2019
Modeling ballistic phonon transport from a cylindrical electron beam heat source journal September 2019
Generalized Fourier's law for nondiffusive thermal transport: Theory and experiment journal August 2019
Interfacial phonon scattering and transmission loss in > 1 µm thick silicon-on-insulator thin films journal May 2018
Unifying first-principles theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of size effects in thermal transport in SiGe alloys journal October 2017
Single-crystal high entropy perovskite oxide epitaxial films journal June 2018
Spectrally Resolved Specular Reflections of Thermal Phonons from Atomically Rough Surfaces journal October 2018
Interfacial Phonon Transport Through Si/Ge Multilayer Film Using Monte Carlo Scheme With Spectral Transmissivity journal May 2018

Similar Records

Experimental observation of localized interfacial phonon modes
Journal Article · Wed Nov 24 23:00:00 EST 2021 · Nature Communications · OSTI ID:1904448

Thermal conductance enhanced via inelastic phonon transport by atomic vacancies at Cu/Si interfaces
Journal Article · Mon Aug 31 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Physical Review B · OSTI ID:1682264

Interfacial phonon scattering and transmission loss in >1 µm thick silicon-on-insulator thin films
Journal Article · Thu May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Physical Review B · OSTI ID:1439937