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Cited by 110Thermal properties of materialsThermoelastic and Magnetoelastic PhenomenaAdvanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

Inelastic phonon transport across atomically sharp metal/semiconductor interfaces

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Li, Qinshu, Liu, Fang, Hu, Song, Song, Houfu, Yang, Susu, Jiang, Hailing, Wang, Tao, Koh, Yee Kan +6 more·2022·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-32600-wPMC PMC9392776

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Abstract

Understanding thermal transport across metal/semiconductor interfaces is crucial for the heat dissipation of electronics. The dominant heat carriers in non-metals, phonons, are thought to transport elastically across most interfaces, except for a few extreme cases where the two materials that formed the interface are highly dissimilar with a large difference in Debye temperature. In this work, we show that even for two materials with similar Debye temperatures (Al/Si, Al/GaN), a substantial portion of phonons will transport inelastically across their interfaces at high temperatures, significantly enhancing interface thermal conductance. Moreover, we find that interface sharpness strongly affects phonon transport process. For atomically sharp interfaces, phonons are allowed to transport inelastically and interface thermal conductance linearly increases at high temperatures. With a diffuse interface, inelastic phonon transport diminishes. Our results provide new insights on phonon transport across interfaces and open up opportunities for engineering interface thermal conductance specifically for materials of relevance to microelectronics.

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  • The maximum Λ and G values obtained for the Al/Si sample agree with literature values within the error range, validating the accuracy of the measurements.

    “The obtained maximum values of Λ and G in the Al/Si sample are in excellent agreement with literature values within the error range [20, 26], validating the accuracy of our measurements.”

    From Boundary conditions dictate frequency dependence of thermal conductivity in silicon (2025) · cites this paper as [20]

    The Results (Fig. 1 caption and accompanying text; page unavailable) compare Al/Si thermal conductance G with earlier measurements and report a similar trend at lower temperatures. They do not report a maximum Λ value or establish that both maxima agree with literature values within error; the paper describes its room-temperature G as record high and a different trend at higher temperatures. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The absence of frequency dependence in Al/SiO2/Si at room temperature suggests that a diffuse thermal interface inhibits non-equilibrium heat flow in high-frequency TDTR measurements, preventing frequency dependence.

    “The absence of frequency dependence in the Al/SiO 2 /Si sample agrees with prior TDTR studies on Al/Si structures, suggesting that a diffuse thermal interface inhibits non-equilibrium heat flow in highfrequency TDTR measurements, thereby preventing the emergence of frequency dependence [20].”

    From Boundary conditions dictate frequency dependence of thermal conductivity in silicon (2025) · cites this paper as [20]

    The Results (page unavailable) say that diffuse Al/Si interfaces have smaller phonon non-equilibrium and diminished inelastic phonon transport, supporting the proposed mechanism in general. The paper also describes preparing an Al/SiO2/Si sample, but the passages found do not report an absence of TDTR modulation-frequency dependence at room temperature or establish that this mechanism prevents it; the reported dependence is on temperature. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The total thermal conductance G1 + G2 = 458 MW m−2 K−1 at room temperature matched the DMM prediction, even without considering serial interfacial thermal resistance from electron-phonon interactions within the Al layer.

    “The total thermal conductance G 1 + G 2 = 458 MW m -2 K -1 matched the value predicted by the DMM [20], even without considering the serial interfacial thermal resistance from electron-phonon interactions within the Al layer [34].”

    From Boundary conditions dictate frequency dependence of thermal conductivity in silicon (2025) · cites this paper as [20]

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Cites

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Authors
Li, Q., Liu, F., Hu, S., Song, H., Yang, S., Jiang, H., Wang, T., Koh, Y. K., Zhao, C., Kang, F., Wu, J., Gu, X., Sun, B., & Wang, X.
Affiliations
  • Tsinghua–Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (CN)
  • Peking University (CN)
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
  • National University of Singapore (SG)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
  • Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter (CN)
Corresponding author
Sun, Bo
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2022-08-20
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
4901-4901
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-022-32600-w
PMC
PMC9392776
OpenAlex
W4294090785
Cited by
110
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 28 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 3
FWCI
5.76
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (12004211, and 61521004, 52161145502, 61734001, 51706134, 61521004, No. 12004211)
  • Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (QD2021008N, JC2021008, No. QD2021008N)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Thermal properties of materials
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanics of Materials › Thermoelastic and Magnetoelastic Phenomena
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
Keywords
metal-semiconductor interface, interface thermal conductance, atomically sharp interfaces, diffuse interface, Al/Si interface, Debye temperature, electronics cooling, phonon scattering

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