Fundamentals of Thermal Transport in Nanomaterials

Unlike the current transport, heat conduction in materials have not generated that much of interest for a long time. However, with the advances in nano-science, thermal transport has taken a center stage in addressing many of our basic scientific and technological questions. Qualitatively thermal transport in nanoscale systems are also fundamentally different than in the bulk materials as the Fourier's law of heat conduction cannot be used to explain transport behavior in most cases. Therefore, understanding the heat conduction in dissimilar materials and at their interfaces are important
to develop devices with improved efficiencies.

HIRG researches not only on the measurement of thermal conduction in various types of materials, but also conducts experimental and modeling analysis on the fundamentals of heat conduction. The group is currently interested in detailed understanding of the electron-phonon coupling mechanisms in heterogeneous materials, as well as to elucidate the coherent phonon thermal transport behavior in heterostructures.

Publication

25. B. Saha, J. Andres, Y. R. Koh, J. Bahk, M. M. Gonzalez, A. Shakouri and T. D. Sands, "Temperature Dependent Thermal and Thermoelectric Properties of n- and p-type Sc1xMgxN." Phys. Rev. B 97, 085301 (2018).

2. B. Saha, Y. R. Koh, J. P. Feser, S. Sadasivam, A. Shakouri, T. S. Fisher, and T. D. Sands, "Phonon Wave-effects in the thermal transport of epitaxial TiN/(Al,Sc)N metal/dielectric superlattices." J. Appl. Phys. 121, 015109 (2017).

3. B. Saha, Y. R. Koh, J. Comparan, S. Sadasivam, J. L. Schroeder, M. Garbrecht, A. Mohammed, J. Birch, T. S. Fisher, A. Shakouri, T. D. Sands, "Cross-plane thermal transport in (Ti,W)N/(Al,Sc)N metal/semiconductor superlattice." Phys. Rev. B, 93, 045311 (2016).

4. P. V. Burmistrova, J. Maassen, T. Favaloro, B. Saha, S. Salamat, Y. R. Koh, M. S. Lundstrom, A. Shakouri, and T. D. Sands, "High mobility and high thermoelectric power factor in epitaxial ScN films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering onto MgO(001) substrate." J. Appl. Phys. 113, 153704 (2013).

5. B. Saha, T. D. Sands and U. V. Waghmare, "Electronic structure, vibrational spectra and thermal properties of HfN/ScN metal/semiconductor superlattices: A first-principles Study." J. Phys.: Cond. Matt., 24 415303, (2012).

6. B. Saha, T. D. Sands and U. V. Waghmare, "Electronic structure, vibrational spectrum, and thermal properties of yttrium nitride (YN): A first-principles study." J. Appl. Phys. 109, 083717 (2011).

7. B. Saha, T. D. Sands and U. V. Waghmare, "First-principles analysis of thermoelectric ZrN/ScN metal/semiconductor superlattices", J. Appl. Phys. 109, 073720 (2011).

8. B. Saha, J. Acharya, T. D. Sands and U. V. Waghmare, "Electronic structures, phonons and thermal properties of ScN, ZrN and HfN: A first-principles Study", J. Appl. Phys. 107, 033715 (2010).