High thermal conductivity and ultrahigh thermal boundary conductance of homoepitaxial AlN thin films

Alvarez-Escalante, Gustavo; Page, Ryan; Hu, Renjiu; Xing, Huili Grace; Jena, Debdeep; Tian, Zhiting

doi:10.1063/5.0078155

High thermal conductivity and ultrahigh thermal boundary conductance of homoepitaxial AlN thin films

Journal Article · Mon Jan 24 23:00:00 EST 2022 · APL Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0078155· OSTI ID:1979012

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Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States)

Wurtzite aluminum nitride (AlN) has attracted increasing attention for high-power and high-temperature operations due to its high piezoelectricity, ultrawide-bandgap, and large thermal conductivity k. The k of epitaxially grown AlN on foreign substrates has been investigated; however, no thermal studies have been conducted on homoepitaxially grown AlN. In this study, the thickness dependent k and thermal boundary conductance G of homoepitaxial AlN thin films were systematically studied using the optical pump–probe method of frequency-domain thermoreflectance. Our results show that k increases with the thickness and k values are among the highest reported for film thicknesses of 200 nm, 500 nm, and 1 μm, with values of 71.95, 152.04, and 195.71 W/(mK), respectively. Our first-principles calculations show good agreement with our measured data. Remarkably, the G between the epilayer and the substrate reported high values of 328, 477, 1180, and 2590 MW/(m²K) for sample thicknesses of 200 nm, 500 nm, 1 μm, and 3 μm, respectively. The high k and ultrahigh G of homoepitaxially grown AlN are very promising for efficient heat dissipation, which helps in device design and has advanced applications in micro-electromechanical systems, ultraviolet photonics, and high-power electronics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (United States); Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); GEM Associate Ph.D. Fellowship; Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); Asahi Kasei

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0021230

OSTI ID:: 1979012

Journal Information:: APL Materials, Journal Name: APL Materials Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 10; ISSN 2166-532X

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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High thermal conductivity and ultrahigh thermal boundary conductance of homoepitaxial AlN thin films

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