Suppressing phonon transport in nanowires: a simple model for phonon-surface roughness interaction
arXiv:1707.07732 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.96.075403
Abstract
Suppressing phonon propagation in nanowires is an essential goal towards achieving efficient thermoelectric devices. Recent experiments have shown unambiguously that surface roughness is a key factor that can reduce the thermal conductivity well below the Casimir limit in thin crystalline silicon nanowires. We use insights gained from the experimental studies to construct a simple analytically tractable model of the phonon-surface roughness interaction that provides a better theoretical understanding of the effects of surface roughness on the thermal conductivity, which could potentially help in designing better thermoelectric devices.
7 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B
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