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Quantized thermal transport across contacts of rough surfaces

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 59–65 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Heat transport across interfaces is often discussed in terms of the transmission probability of the heat-carrying phonons through the contact zone. Although interface roughness influences the true contact area and affects phonon scattering within the contact zone, its effect on nanoscale heat transport remains poorly understood. Here, we report experimental data on the pressure dependence of thermal transport across polished nanoscale contacts. The data can be quantitatively explained by a model of thermal conductance across interfaces that incorporates the effect of nanoscale roughness through the quantized thermal conductance across individual atomic-scale contacts within the contact zone.

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Figure 1: Pressure dependence of the contact between two bodies.
Figure 2: Typical experimental data for loading and unloading a contact.
Figure 3: Pressure dependence of the thermal interface conductance for various tips.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. A. Friedmann and R. W. Carpick for the taC sample and background information on the material. We are grateful to U. Drechsler and M. Despont for fabricating the heatable silicon tips. Furthermore, continuous support from E. Eleftheriou, H. Riel and W. Riess is gratefully acknowledged. We thank C. Bolliger for proofreading the manuscript, D. Cahill for sharing a manuscript before publication and C. Dames for stimulating discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Research—Zurich, Säumerstrasse 4, CH-8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland

    B. Gotsmann & M. A. Lantz

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  1. B. Gotsmann
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  2. M. A. Lantz
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Contributions

B.G. and M.L. designed and ran the experiments and analysed the data. B.G. developed the model and performed the calculations. B.G. and M.L. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to B. Gotsmann.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Gotsmann, B., Lantz, M. Quantized thermal transport across contacts of rough surfaces. Nature Mater 12, 59–65 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3460

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