Lattice thermal conduction in ultra-thin nanocomposites

Abstract

We have studied the lattice thermal conductivity of Si/Ge periodic nanocomposites (superlattice, nanowire, and nanodot structures) of sample sizes in the range of 30 nm-30 μm, periodicities 1.1 nm and 2.2 nm, with reasonably dirty interfaces, and n-type doping concentration in the range of 1023-1026m-3. Our calculations employ a judicious combination of ab initio and physically sound semi-empirical methods for detailed calculations of estimates of phonon scattering rates due to anharmonicity and interface formation. Based upon our results we conclude that the formation of ultra-thin nanocomposites in any of the three structures is capable of reducing the conductivity below the alloy limit. This can be explained as a result of combination of the sample length dependence, the on-set of mini-Umklapp three-phonon processes, mass mixing at the interfaces between Si and Ge regions, and the sample doping level.