Nanoscale heat conduction is limited by surface scattering of phonons but can be enhanced by surface phonon-polaritons (SPhPs), which are the hybridization of photons and optical phonons in polar materials. Here, we analyze the dispersion of SPhPs in a multilayer system consisting of a silicon (Si) layer sandwiched between two silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanolayers. We find that SPhPs generated in SiO2 nanolayers couple with guided resonant modes and propagate mainly in the nonabsorbent Si layer for microscale Si thicknesses. This coupling yields an enhancement in thermal conductivity with Si thickness. In contrast, for nanoscale Si thicknesses, evanescent components of SPhPs couple inside the Si layer, resulting in a higher thermal conductivity for thinner Si layers. The transition between these two different coupling phenomena provides the minimum of the in-plane SPhP thermal conductivity at a Si thickness of approximately 1 μm. Our finding brings deeper insight into thermal management in electronics and semiconductors.

1.
O.
Semenov
,
A.
Vassighi
, and
M.
Sachdev
, “
Impact of self-heating effect on long-term reliability and performance degradation in CMOS circuits
,”
IEEE Trans. Device Mater. Rel.
6
,
17
27
(
2006
).
2.
D.-Z. A.
Chen
,
A.
Narayanaswamy
, and
G.
Chen
, “
Surface phonon-polariton mediated thermal conductivity enhancement of amorphous thin films
,”
Phys. Rev. B
72
,
155435
(
2005
).
3.
J. L.
Braun
,
C. H.
Baker
,
A.
Giri
,
M.
Elahi
,
K.
Artyushkova
,
T. E.
Beechem
,
P. M.
Norris
,
Z. C.
Leseman
,
J. T.
Gaskins
, and
P. E.
Hopkins
, “
Size effects on the thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon thin films
,”
Phys. Rev. B
93
,
140201
(
2016
).
4.
S.
Volz
,
J.
Ordonez-Miranda
,
A.
Shchepetov
,
M.
Prunnila
,
J.
Ahopelto
,
T.
Pezeril
,
G.
Vaudel
,
V.
Gusev
,
P.
Ruello
,
E. M.
Weig
 et al, “
Nanophononics: State of the art and perspectives
,”
Eur. Phys. J. B
89
,
15
(
2016
).
5.
M.
Nomura
,
J.
Shiomi
,
T.
Shiga
, and
R.
Anufriev
, “
Thermal phonon engineering by tailored nanostructures
,”
Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Part 1
57
,
080101
(
2018
).
6.
M.
Nomura
,
R.
Anufriev
,
Z.
Zhang
,
J.
Maire
,
Y.
Guo
,
R.
Yanagisawa
, and
S.
Volz
, “
Review of thermal transport in phononic crystals
,”
Mater. Today Phys.
22
,
100613
(
2022
).
7.
F.
Yang
,
J.
Sambles
, and
G.
Bradberry
, “
Long-range surface modes supported by thin films
,”
Phys. Rev. B
44
,
5855
(
1991
).
8.
J.-J.
Greffet
,
R.
Carminati
,
K.
Joulain
,
J.-P.
Mulet
,
S.
Mainguy
, and
Y.
Chen
, “
Coherent emission of light by thermal sources
,”
Nature
416
,
61
64
(
2002
).
9.
D.-Z. A.
Chen
and
G.
Chen
, “
Measurement of silicon dioxide surface phonon-polariton propagation length by attenuated total reflection
,”
Appl. Phys. Lett.
91
,
121906
(
2007
).
10.
J.
Ordonez-Miranda
,
L.
Tranchant
,
T.
Tokunaga
,
B.
Kim
,
B.
Palpant
,
Y.
Chalopin
,
T.
Antoni
, and
S.
Volz
, “
Anomalous thermal conductivity by surface phonon-polaritons of polar nano thin films due to their asymmetric surrounding media
,”
J. Appl. Phys.
113
,
084311
(
2013
).
11.
D.-Z. A.
Chen
and
G.
Chen
, “
Heat flow in thin films via surface phonon-polaritons
,”
Front. Heat Mass Transfer
1
,
023005
(
2010
).
12.
S.
Gluchko
,
B.
Palpant
,
S.
Volz
,
R.
Braive
, and
T.
Antoni
, “
Thermal excitation of broadband and long-range surface waves on SiO2 submicron films
,”
Appl. Phys. Lett.
110
,
263108
(
2017
).
13.
L.
Tranchant
,
S.
Hamamura
,
J.
Ordonez-Miranda
,
T.
Yabuki
,
A.
Vega-Flick
,
F.
Cervantes-Alvarez
,
J. J.
Alvarado-Gil
,
S.
Volz
, and
K.
Miyazaki
, “
Two-dimensional phonon polariton heat transport
,”
Nano Lett.
19
,
6924
6930
(
2019
).
14.
Y.
Wu
,
J.
Ordonez-Miranda
,
S.
Gluchko
,
R.
Anufriev
,
D. D. S.
Meneses
,
L.
Del Campo
,
S.
Volz
, and
M.
Nomura
, “
Enhanced thermal conduction by surface phonon-polaritons
,”
Sci. Adv.
6
,
eabb4461
(
2020
).
15.
E. D.
Palik
,
Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids
(
Academic Press
,
1998
), Vol.
3
.
16.
J.
Ordonez-Miranda
,
L.
Tranchant
,
Y.
Chalopin
,
T.
Antoni
, and
S.
Volz
, “
Thermal conductivity of nano-layered systems due to surface phonon-polaritons
,”
J. Appl. Phys.
115
,
054311
(
2014
).
17.
M.
Lim
,
J.
Ordonez-Miranda
,
S. S.
Lee
,
B. J.
Lee
, and
S.
Volz
, “
Thermal-conductivity enhancement by surface electromagnetic waves propagating along multilayered structures with asymmetric surrounding media
,”
Phys. Rev. Appl.
12
,
034044
(
2019
).
18.
S.
Tachikawa
,
J.
Ordonez-Miranda
,
Y.
Wu
,
L.
Jalabert
,
R.
Anufriev
,
S.
Volz
, and
M.
Nomura
, “
High surface phonon-polariton in-plane thermal conductance along coupled films
,”
Nanomaterials
10
,
1383
(
2020
).

Supplementary Material

You do not currently have access to this content.