Thermal conduction in doped single-crystal silicon films
Abstract
This work measures the thermal conductivities along free-standing silicon layers doped with boron and phosphorus at concentrations ranging from 1×1017 to 3×1019 cm−3 at temperatures between 15 and 300 K. The impurity concentrations are measured using secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and the thermal conductivity data are interpreted using phonon transport theory accounting for scattering on impurities, free electrons, and the layer boundaries. Phonon-boundary scattering in the 3-μm-thick layers reduces the thermal conductivity of the layers at low temperatures regardless of the level of impurity concentration. The present data suggest that unintentional impurities may have strongly reduced the conductivities reported previously for bulk samples, for which impurity concentrations were determined from the electrical resistivity rather than from SIMS data. This work illustrates the combined effects of phonon interactions with impurities, free electrons, and material interfaces, which can be particularly important in semiconductor devices.
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The obtained coupling factor g at room temperature lies in the order of 10^14 W m−3 K−1, as expected from scattering rates of low-frequency phonons.
“The obtained coupling factor g lies in the order of 10 14 Wm -3 K -1 , which is expected by the scattering rates of low-frequency phonons [35, 36].”
From Boundary conditions dictate frequency dependence of thermal conductivity in silicon (2025) · cites this paper as [35]
The thermal conductivity of thin single-crystal silicon layers has been reported for a range of thicknesses from 20 nm to 3 μm.
“The thermal conductivity of thin single-crystal silicon layers has been reported for a range of thicknesses from 20 nm [8] to 3 l m [7,11,12].”
From Mean Free Path Effects on the Experimentally Measured Thermal Conductivity of Single-Crystal Silicon Microbridges (2013) · cites this paper as [12]
Similarly large values for the impurity scattering coefficient have been routinely used to model highly (>1e19 cm-3) boron doped single-crystal silicon.
“Similarly large values for the impurity scattering coefficient have been routinely used to model highly ( > 1 -10 19 cm 3 ) boron doped single-crystal silicon [12,45].”
From Mean Free Path Effects on the Experimentally Measured Thermal Conductivity of Single-Crystal Silicon Microbridges (2013) · cites this paper as [12]
Asheghi and coworkers found that strong impurity scattering effects were more pronounced in bulk samples in comparison to highly boron doped thin films.
“Asheghi and coworkers [12,45] also found that these strong impurity scattering effects were more pronounced in bulk samples in comparison to highly boron doped thin films.”
From Mean Free Path Effects on the Experimentally Measured Thermal Conductivity of Single-Crystal Silicon Microbridges (2013) · cites this paper as [12]
The introduction of strain and disruption of the local crystallographic arrangement due to dopant atoms contributes to scattering.
“The introduction of strain and disruption of the local crystallographic arrangement due to dopant atoms contributes to scattering of the form [12,48]”
From Mean Free Path Effects on the Experimentally Measured Thermal Conductivity of Single-Crystal Silicon Microbridges (2013) · cites this paper as [12]
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Experimental Techniques for Thin-Film Thermal Conductivity Characterization
Borca-Tasciuc, T., & Chen, G. (2006) · Physics of Solids and Liquids · doi:10.1007/0-387-26017-x_9 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
English, T. S., Phinney, L. M., Hopkins, P. E., & Serrano, J. R. (2013) · Journal of Heat Transfer · doi:10.1115/1.4024357 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Boundary conditions dictate frequency dependence of thermal conductivity in silicon
Liu, Y., Li, Q., Liu, F., Wang, X., & Sun, B. (2025) · Applied Physics Reviews · doi:10.1063/5.0254248 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“In the Al/Si sample, we obtained Λ aligns well with previously reported value [18, 26, 32].”
Boundary conditions dictate frequency dependence of thermal conductivity in silicon
Liu, Y., Li, Q., Liu, F., Wang, X., & Sun, B. (2024) · arXiv · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2412.02227 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“In the Al/Si sample, we obtained Λ aligns well with previously reported value [18, 26, 32].”
- Authors
- Asheghi, M., Kurabayashi, K., Kasnavi, R., & Goodson, K. E.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Publisher
- AIP Publishing
- Published
- 2002-04-15
- Volume
- 91
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 5079-5088
- ISSN
- 0021-8979 (ISSN-L)
- 1089-7550
- OpenAlex
- W1973751801
- Cited by
- 469
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 7.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Physics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Thermal properties of materials
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Semiconductor materials and interfaces
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices
- Keywords
- thermal conductivity, single-crystal silicon films, boron doping, phosphorus doping, phonon transport, phonon boundary scattering, impurity scattering, free electron scattering, low-temperature thermal conductivity, free-standing thin films, semiconductor devices
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