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The thermal conductivity of group IV elements—germanium, silicon, and diamond—is described in order to demonstrate various important and interesting aspects of the mechanism of phonon heat transfer in single-crystalline semiconductors and dielectrics. The measured temperature dependence of thermal conductivity κ (T) for these materials reveals different phonon scattering processes that determine thermal conductivity. In addition to the intrinsic processes of phonon–phonon scattering, scattering by isotopes, dopants, free electrons, sample surfaces, the effects of phonon focusing, irradiation with high-energy particles, and phonon hydrodynamics are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the stable elements have two and more stable isotopes. The physical properties of materials composed of such elements depend on the isotopic abundance to some extent. A remarkably strong isotope effect is observed in the phonon thermal conductivity, the principal mechanism of heat conduction in nonmetallic crystals. An isotopic disorder due to random distribution of the isotopes in the crystal lattice sites results in a rather strong phonon scattering and, consequently, in a reduction of thermal conductivity. In this paper, we present new results of accurate and precise measurements of thermal conductivity κ(T) for silicon single crystals having three different isotopic compositions at temperatures T from 2.4 to 420 K. The highly enriched crystal containing 99.995% of 28Si, which is one of the most perfect crystals ever synthesized, demonstrates a thermal conductivity of about 450 ± 10 W cm-1K-1 at 24 K, the highest measured value among bulk dielectrics, which is ten times greater than the one for its counterpart natSi with the natural isotopic constitution. For highly enriched crystal 28Si and crystal natSi, the measurements were performed for two orientations [001] and [011], a magnitude of the phonon focusing effect on thermal conductivity was determined accurately at low temperatures. The anisotropy of thermal conductivity disappears above 31 K. The influence of the boundary scattering on thermal conductivity persists sizable up to much higher temperatures (∼80 K). The κ(T) measured in this work gives the most accurate approximation of the intrinsic thermal conductivity of single crystal silicon which is determined solely by the anharmonic phonon processes and diffusive boundary scattering over a wide temperature range.

Thermal conductivity κ (T) of single-crystal CVD diamond lightly doped (about 3 ppm) with nitrogen has been measured at temperatures from 5.7 to 410 K. The sample was carefully characterized by optical absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy for the presence of impurities. Nine different optically active defects related with nitrogen, hydrogen, and silicon impurities have been identified and quantified. This pink-tint crystal showed a high thermal conductivity of 24.0 ± 0.5 W cm − 1 K − 1 at room temperature, which is very close to the highest value ever measured at about 25 W cm − 1 K − 1 for diamonds of natural isotopic composition. At the same time, the κ (T) of the crystal showed strong suppression > --> 10 % at temperatures 6 < T < 120 K with a maximum decrease of 2.7 times at ≈ 40 K compared to high purity diamonds. This behavior of the conductivity is attributed to a phonon scattering by charge carriers bound to nitrogen-related impurity centers, which is ineffective, however, at room and higher temperatures. The κ (T) has been calculated within the model based on the Callaway theory taking into account the elastic phonon scattering off charge carriers (holes and electrons) in the ground states of doping centers, and a very good agreement between the measured and theoretical data has been achieved. The model also gives a good approximation to the experimental data for κ (T) given in the literature for synthetic and natural single-crystal diamonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal conductivity κ (T) of single crystal aluminum nitride grown by physical vapor transport has been measured at temperatures T from 5 to 410 K. The samples exhibit high thermal conductivity with a value of up to 316 W m − 1 K − 1 at room temperature and about 2800 W m − 1 K − 1 at a peak of 66 K. At lowest temperatures, κ (T) approaches the conductivity limited by the diffuse phonon scattering from sample surfaces. The peculiarities in measured κ (T) suggest that the phonon scattering from point defects contributes essentially to the total phonon scattering in samples under investigation at low temperatures. The phonon interaction with electrons and holes bound to neutral donor and acceptor centers is suggested, adding substantially to thermal resistivity near and below the peak in κ (T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]