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Substrate-dependent thermal conductivity of aluminum nitride thin-films processed at low temperature

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4903220· OSTI ID:22402397
; ; ; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Institut des Matériaux Jean Rouxel (IMN), University of Nantes, 2 rue de la Houssinière BP 32229, 44322 Nantes cedex 3 (France)
  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy at College of Science, King Saud University at Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)

In this paper, we report on investigation concerning the substrate-dependent thermal conductivity (k) of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) thin-films processed at low temperature by reactive magnetron sputtering. The thermal conductivity of AlN films grown at low temperature (<200 °C) on single-crystal silicon (Si) and amorphous silicon nitride (SiN) with thicknesses ranging from 100 nm to 4000 nm was measured with the transient hot-strip technique. The k values for AlN films on SiN were found significantly lower than those on Silicon consistently with their microstructures revealed by X-ray diffraction, high resolution scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The change in k was due to the thermal boundary resistance found to be equal to 10 × 10{sup −9} Km{sup 2}W{sup −1} on SiN against 3.5 × 10{sup −9} Km{sup 2}W{sup −1} on Si. However, the intrinsic thermal conductivity was determined with a value as high as 200 Wm{sup −1}K{sup −1} whatever the substrate.

OSTI ID:
22402397
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 105; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English