Thermal transport regulation of nano Si/Si and Ge/Ge interfaces in contact and non-contact states

Y Dong and X Zhang and F Xu and YS Ding and H Cheng and MP Huang, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER, 247, 127186 (2025).

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2025.127186

Thermal management of electronic components at nano scale involves both contact and non-contact states. The atomic interface structure can be changed by torsioning, but the dependence of interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) on torsional angles in different contact states has not been fully explored. This study investigates the ITC regulated by torsional angles in contact and non-contact states. For contact state, the increasing torsional angle causes deformation of interface atoms, redistributing the phonon density of states and reducing the overlap area of phonon spectrum. This leads to diminished interfacial phonon coupling and shifts in the phonon participation rate to localization, which in turn suppresses phonon transport, ultimately resulting in a drop in ITC. In noncontact state, increased interface distance in larger torsional angle weakens the interfacial interaction potential and force constant, subsequently reducing ITC. As the normal load or potential well depth increases, the interface layers in non-contact case get closer, intensifying potential energy interactions, which raises the force constant and boosts phonon energy transfer, resulting in higher ITC.

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