Influence of Strain on Thermal Conductivity of Silicon Nitride Thin Films

Abstract

We present a micro-electro-mechanical system-based experimental technique to measure thermal conductivity of freestanding ultra-thin films of amorphous silicon nitride (Si3N4) as a function of mechanical strain. Using a combination of infrared thermal micrography and multi-physics simulation, we measured thermal conductivity of 50 nm thick silicon nitride films to observe it decrease from 2.7 W (m K)(exp -1) at zero strain to 0.34 W (m K)(exp -1) at about 2.4% tensile strain. We propose that such strong strain-thermal conductivity coupling is due to strain effects on fraction-phonon interaction that decreases the dominant hopping mode conduction in the amorphous silicon nitride specimens.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 02, 2012
Accession Number
ADA557809

Entities

People

  • A. Voevodin
  • Christopher Muratore
  • M. P. Manoharan
  • M. T. Alam
  • Mohammad Ariful Haque

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Amorphous Materials
  • Ceramic Materials
  • Coefficients
  • Conductivity
  • Couplings
  • Energy
  • Films
  • Heat Transfer
  • Materials
  • Mechanical Properties
  • Mechanics
  • Physical Properties
  • Tensile Strain
  • Thermal Conductivity
  • Thermal Resistance
  • Thin Films

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics of Materials.
  • Thermal Physics or Thermal Science.
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene