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Phonon-boundary scattering and thermal transport in Alx Ga1-x N : Effect of layer thickness

Tran, Dat Q. ; Delgado-Carrasco, Rosalia ; Muth, John F. ; Paskova, Tania ; Nawaz, Muhammad ; Darakchieva, Vanya LU and Paskov, Plamen P. (2020) In Applied Physics Letters 117(25).
Abstract

Thermal conductivity of AlxGa1-xN layers with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.96 and variable thicknesses is systematically studied by combined thermoreflectance measurements and a modified Callaway model. We find a reduction in the thermal conductivity of AlxGa1-xN by more than one order of magnitude compared to that of GaN, which indicates a strong effect of phonon-alloy scattering. It is shown that the short-mean free path phonons are strongly scattered, which leads to a major contribution of the long-mean free path phonons to the thermal conductivity. In thin layers, the long-mean free path phonons become efficiently scattered by the boundaries, resulting in a further decrease in the thermal conductivity. Also, an asymmetry of thermal conductivity as a... (More)

Thermal conductivity of AlxGa1-xN layers with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.96 and variable thicknesses is systematically studied by combined thermoreflectance measurements and a modified Callaway model. We find a reduction in the thermal conductivity of AlxGa1-xN by more than one order of magnitude compared to that of GaN, which indicates a strong effect of phonon-alloy scattering. It is shown that the short-mean free path phonons are strongly scattered, which leads to a major contribution of the long-mean free path phonons to the thermal conductivity. In thin layers, the long-mean free path phonons become efficiently scattered by the boundaries, resulting in a further decrease in the thermal conductivity. Also, an asymmetry of thermal conductivity as a function of Al content is experimentally observed and attributed to the mass difference between Ga and Al host atoms.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
in
Applied Physics Letters
volume
117
issue
25
article number
252102
publisher
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85099176672
ISSN
0003-6951
DOI
10.1063/5.0031404
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Author(s).
id
1267af08-a844-4022-baaf-452d7d62cb82
date added to LUP
2025-11-06 16:39:42
date last changed
2025-11-11 15:45:25
@article{1267af08-a844-4022-baaf-452d7d62cb82,
  abstract     = {{<p>Thermal conductivity of AlxGa1-xN layers with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.96 and variable thicknesses is systematically studied by combined thermoreflectance measurements and a modified Callaway model. We find a reduction in the thermal conductivity of AlxGa1-xN by more than one order of magnitude compared to that of GaN, which indicates a strong effect of phonon-alloy scattering. It is shown that the short-mean free path phonons are strongly scattered, which leads to a major contribution of the long-mean free path phonons to the thermal conductivity. In thin layers, the long-mean free path phonons become efficiently scattered by the boundaries, resulting in a further decrease in the thermal conductivity. Also, an asymmetry of thermal conductivity as a function of Al content is experimentally observed and attributed to the mass difference between Ga and Al host atoms.</p>}},
  author       = {{Tran, Dat Q. and Delgado-Carrasco, Rosalia and Muth, John F. and Paskova, Tania and Nawaz, Muhammad and Darakchieva, Vanya and Paskov, Plamen P.}},
  issn         = {{0003-6951}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{25}},
  publisher    = {{American Institute of Physics (AIP)}},
  series       = {{Applied Physics Letters}},
  title        = {{Phonon-boundary scattering and thermal transport in Al<sub>x </sub>Ga<sub>1-</sub><sub>x </sub>N : Effect of layer thickness}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0031404}},
  doi          = {{10.1063/5.0031404}},
  volume       = {{117}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}