EAPSI: Exploring Nano-scale Thermal Transport in Semiconductor Thin Films for the Advancement of Modern Electronic Devices

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Controlling heat dissipation in electronics is vital for a variety of technological applications. The recent growth of manufacturing and utilization of nano-scale electronics has led to the ever-increasing need to achieve smaller and denser circuits; thus serious thermal management issues have become the focus of current semiconductor material research. One such problem is that the interface between two semiconductor materials acts as a barrier to thermal transport, therefore dramatically decreasing thermal conductivity. This project seeks to understand and ultimately control thermal transport at the nanometer scale by investigating heat transport between semiconductor interfaces. The dependence of thermal transport on thin-film thickness and interface roughness will also be examined. The EAPSI fellow will perform the experiment and data analysis in collaboration with Dr. Xuan Wang; an expert in the measurement technique of ultra-fast electron diffraction, at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. The findings of this project may offer new insight into the processes of nano-scale thermal transport and aid in the development of future nano-devices.This project will utilize the experimental technique of Femtosecond Electron Diffraction (FED) to monitor the nano-film temperature evolution after ultrafast heating in real time for various nano-film thicknesses. The thermal boundary conductance and the effect of phonon confinement on thermal transport will be measured. FED directly records both thermal and coherent lattice dynamics in real time, thus gaining a more coherent picture of nano-scale transport dynamics compared to ultrafast optical measurements. An in-depth understanding of nano-scale thermal transport gained in this project will help to improve thermal management and enhance the speed and function of future nano-devices. This project will continue to develop FED in China and give rise to future research collaboration for the newly proposed Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility in China, pushing FED to a world-class level. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.