ENHANCEMENT OF IN-PLANE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF THIN FILMS VIA SURFACE PHONON-POLARITONS

摘要

We predict theoretically that the effective in-plane thermal conductivity of crystalline and amorphous thin films can be increased by surface phonon-polaritons significantly beyond their intrinsic bulk values. We show that the thermal conductivity due to surface phonon-polaritons increases with decreasing film thickness. In particular, for a 40 nm thick film of amorphous silicon dioxide, we calculate a total thermal conductivity of 4 W m~(-1) K~(-1) at 500 K, which is an increase of ～100% over the intrinsic phonon thermal conductivity.