Interfacial thermal conductance across metal-insulator/semiconductor interfaces due to surface states

TL;DR

This paper investigates how surface states influence interfacial thermal conductance in metal-insulator/semiconductor interfaces, emphasizing electron-phonon interactions near the interface, and provides calculations aligning with experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model showing surface states mediate thermal conductance via electron-phonon interactions, matching experimental observations.

Findings

Interfacial thermal conductance is similar across different metals.

Surface states significantly influence heat transfer at interfaces.

Model reproduces experimental measurements accurately.

Abstract

We point out that the effective channel for the interfacial thermal conductance, the inverse of Kapitza resistance, of metal-insulator/semiconductor interfaces is governed by the electron-phonon interaction mediated by the surface states allowed in a thin region near the interface. Our detailed calculations demonstrate that the interfacial thermal conductance across Pb/Pt/Al/Au-diamond interfaces are only slightly different among these metals, and reproduce well the experimental results of the interfacial thermal conductance across metal-diamond interfaces observed by Stoner et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 1563 (1992)] and most recently by Hohensee et al. [Nature Commun. 6, 6578 (2015)].