Lattice dynamics analysis of thermal conductivity in silicon nanoscale film

Silicon nanoscale film have been widely used in many areas in which heat transfer mechanism and characteristics are of great significance to the thermal analysis and thermal design of these micro-devices. Although the measurement of nanoscale film thermal conductivity has been made in the thickness range of about 100 nm, the direct measurement tools face problems due to the difficulties in preparing the samples and test apparatus for the thickness range of less than 100 nm. In the present paper molecular, dynamics simulation and the Boltzmann transport equation are used to analyze the phonon transport in nanometer film. It was observed from the simulation results that there exists the obvious size effect on the thermal conductivity when the film thickness reduces to nanoscale or microscale, and the feasibility of the molecular dynamics method is a particularly good alternative method to investigate the physical characteristics of nanometer film when direct measurement are difficult to make.