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Anomalously high thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon films prepared by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition

Publication ,  Journal Article
Liu, X; Feldman, JL; Cahill, DG; Yang, HS; Crandall, RS; Bernstein, N; Photiadis, DM; Mehl, MJ; Papaconstantopoulos, DA
Published in: Chinese Journal of Physics
January 1, 2011

We report anomalously high thermal conductivities of amorphous Si (a-Si) films prepared by hot-wire chemical-vapor deposition (HWCVD) at the National Renewable Energy laboratory (NREL), that is a factor of 4~6 higher than predicted by the model of minimum thermal conductivity. The temperature dependent thermal conductivities are measured with the time-domain thermoreflectance method on two thin films and with the 3 ω method on a thick film. For all these films, the thermal conductivity shows a strong phonon mean free path dependence that has so far only been found in crystalline semiconductor alloys. Similar HWCVD α-Si films prepared at the U. Illinois do not show an enhanced thermal conductivity even though the Raman spectra of the NREL and the U. Illinois samples are essentially identical. We also applied a Kubo based theory using a tight-binding method on three 1000 atom continuous random network models. The theory gives higher thermal conductivity for more ordered models, but not high enough to explain our results, even after extrapolating to lower frequencies with a Boltzmann approach. Our results show that the thermal conductivity of α-Si depends strongly on the details of their microstructure that are not revealed by vibrational spectroscopy. © 2011 The Physical Society of The Republic of China.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Chinese Journal of Physics

ISSN

0577-9073

Publication Date

January 1, 2011

Volume

49

Issue

1

Start / End Page

359 / 368

Related Subject Headings

  • General Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences
  • 01 Mathematical Sciences
 

Citation

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Liu, X., Feldman, J. L., Cahill, D. G., Yang, H. S., Crandall, R. S., Bernstein, N., … Papaconstantopoulos, D. A. (2011). Anomalously high thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon films prepared by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. Chinese Journal of Physics, 49(1), 359–368.
Liu, X., J. L. Feldman, D. G. Cahill, H. S. Yang, R. S. Crandall, N. Bernstein, D. M. Photiadis, M. J. Mehl, and D. A. Papaconstantopoulos. “Anomalously high thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon films prepared by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition.” Chinese Journal of Physics 49, no. 1 (January 1, 2011): 359–68.
Liu X, Feldman JL, Cahill DG, Yang HS, Crandall RS, Bernstein N, et al. Anomalously high thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon films prepared by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. Chinese Journal of Physics. 2011 Jan 1;49(1):359–68.
Liu, X., et al. “Anomalously high thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon films prepared by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition.” Chinese Journal of Physics, vol. 49, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 359–68.
Liu X, Feldman JL, Cahill DG, Yang HS, Crandall RS, Bernstein N, Photiadis DM, Mehl MJ, Papaconstantopoulos DA. Anomalously high thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon films prepared by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition. Chinese Journal of Physics. 2011 Jan 1;49(1):359–368.
Journal cover image

Published In

Chinese Journal of Physics

ISSN

0577-9073

Publication Date

January 1, 2011

Volume

49

Issue

1

Start / End Page

359 / 368

Related Subject Headings

  • General Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 02 Physical Sciences
  • 01 Mathematical Sciences