Thermophysical properties of free-standing micrometer-thick Poly(3-hexylthiophene) films

The solution of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in chloroform is generally adopted for fabricating P3HT thin films or nanofibers. In this work, 4 regular P3HT solution weight percentages, 2, 3, 5 and 7 wt.%, are compounded to fabricate P3HT thin films by using spin-coating technique. Raman spectrum study suggests that the density of the P3HT thin films varies with different P3HT solution weight percentages while X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the crystal structures are identical for all P3HT thin films. The transient electrothermal technique is employed to measure the thermal diffusivity of the P3HT thin films and an efficient temperature-resistance calibration is performed to cooperatively study the thermal conductivity. When the P3HT weight percentage changes from 2% to 7%, the thermal conductivity varies from 1.29 W/m·K to 1.67 W/m·K and the thermal diffusivity goes down from around 10^− 6 m²/s to 5 × 10^− 7 m²/s. The density of P3HT thin films is also determined from the experimental data. The relationship between the density and thermophysical properties clearly demonstrates that the thermal conductivity increases with density while the thermal diffusivity decreases.     

利用稳态法测量聚合物薄膜纵向热导系数

在一维稳态热传导模型的基础上,设计了一套用于测量聚合物薄膜纵向热导系数的实验装置,并利用Comsol软件对该测量装置进行数值模拟并优化设计。同时利用本文设计的实验装置,测量得到了不同温度下聚酰亚胺(PI)膜、聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)膜以及混合纤维素酯(MCE)膜的热导系数。在35℃~60℃的温度范围内热导系数测量值分别维持在0.21 W/(m.K),0.26 W/(m.K),0.13 W/(m.K)左右,标准不确定度在9.5%以下。测量结果与参考值相符,验证了实验装置的测试精度。     

Thermal Conductivity Measurement of an Electron-Beam Physical-Vapor-Deposition Coating

An industrial ceramic thermal-barrier coating designated PWA 266, processed by electron-beam physical-vapor deposition, was measured using a steady-state thermal conductivity technique. The thermal conductivity of the mass fraction 7 % yttria-stabilized zirconia coating was measured from 100 °C to 900 °C. Measurements on three thicknesses of coatings, 170 μm, 350 μm, and 510 μm resulted in thermal conductivity in the range from 1.5 W/(m·K) to 1.7 W/(m·K) with a combined relative standard uncertainty of 20 %. The thermal conductivity is not significantly dependent on temperature.     

Thermal conductivity of InAs quantum dot stacks using AlAs strain compensating layers on InP substrate

The growth and thermal conductivity of InAs quantum dot (QD) stacks embedded in GaInAs matrix with AlAs compensating layers deposited on (1 1 3)B InP substrate are presented. The effect of the strain compensating AlAs layer is demonstrated through Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction structural analysis. The thermal conductivity (2.7 W/m K at 300 K) measured by the 3ω method reveals to be clearly reduced in comparison with a bulk InGaAs layer (5 W/m K). In addition, the thermal conductivity measurements of S doped InP substrates and the SiN insulating layer used in the 3ω method in the 20–200 °C range are also presented. An empirical law is proposed for the S doped InP substrate, which slightly differs from previously presented results.     

Fabrication and characterization of aluminum nitride polymer matrix composites with high thermal conductivity and low dielectric constant for electronic packaging

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) composites filled with Aluminum Nitride (AlN) were prepared by powder processing technique. The microstructures of the composites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy techniques. The effect of AlN filler content (0.1–0.7 volume fraction (vf)) on the thermal conductivity, relative permittivity, and dielectric loss were investigated. As the vf of AlN filler increased, the thermal conductivity of the specimens increased. The thermal conductivity and relative permittivity of AlN/PMMA composites with 0.7 vf AlN filler were improved to 1.87 W/(m K) and 4.4 (at 1 MHz), respectively. The experimental thermal conductivity and relative permittivity were compared with that from simulation model.     

Multifunctional graphene nanoplatelets/cellulose nanocrystals composite paper

We demonstrate a water-based method to fabricate strong, electrically and thermally conductive hybrid thin films (papers) made from the combination of graphene nanoplatelets (GnP) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC). Unpressed and hot-pressed GnP papers containing CNC ranging from 0 wt% to 25 wt% were prepared. It is found that the GnP is well aligned within the hybrid paper, and a higher degree of alignment is induced by the hot-pressing process. The mechanical properties of the resulting papers increased with increasing content of CNC. The hot-pressed 25 wt% CNC hybrid paper showed the best mechanical properties among all the papers studied and improved the tensile strength by 33% and the modulus by 57% compared to neat GnP paper. Both the highest in-plane and though-plane thermal conductivity of 41 W/m K and 1.2 W/m K were measured respectively for the hot-pressed 15 wt% CNC hybrid paper. The electrical conductivity decreased continuously with increasing content of CNC but the thin film was still conductive at the highest CNC content in this study. The low-cost, environmental-friendly, thermally and electrically conductive flexible GnP/CNC hybrid papers have a set of properties making them suitable for many potential applications.     

Structural and thermoelectric properties of HfNiSn half-Heusler thin films

The bulk thermoelectric properties of half-Heusler alloys have recently been extensively studied due to their potential as thermoelectric materials. However, only a few publications have been addressed on thin film systems. The present study investigated the structural and thermoelectric properties of HfNiSn half-Heusler alloy thin films grown at different substrate temperatures: 25 °C, 200 °C, and 400 °C. The crystalline phase and structural variation of the films were determined by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Polycrystalline thin films were obtained for utilizing lower substrate temperatures. The HfNiSn thin films exhibited preferred (111) orientation when substrate temperature was higher than 400 °C. The in-plane Seebeck coefficient and resistivity of HfNiSn thin films with preferred orientation were much lower than those of films without orientation. This implies the thermoelectric properties of HfNiSn alloy may exhibit anisotropic characteristics. The best Seebeck coefficient and power factor of HfNiSn thin films obtained in this work are −68 μV/K and 1.3 μW/K²cm, respectively, measured at room temperature. The effects of partial substitution of Sn by Sb on thermoelectric properties of HfNiSn thin films were also studied with a “pseudo-combinatorial” approach.     

Measurement technique for thermal conductivity of thin polymer films

We present a modified steady-state heat flow technique, which allows measuring the thermal conductivity of films applied on a substrate. The measurement technique with the here presented setup provides an accuracy (overestimation) of 5-10% for film thickness up to 100 μm. For thicker films a correction factor based on finite-element simulations has to be used or the geometry has to be adapted. The technique is validated with thin glass plates of known thermal conductivity. To demonstrate the application of the technique the thermal conductivity of a thin polymer film of fluorinated acrylate is determined as 0.19 ± 0.02 W/mK.     

Rapid thermal annealing of Ti-rich TiNi thin films: A new approach to fabricate patterned shape memory thin films

This paper reports the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) of Ti-rich TiNi thin films, synthesized by the co-sputtering of TiNi and Ti targets. Long-range order of aperiodic alloy could be achieved in a few seconds with the optimum temperature of 773 K. Longer annealing (773 K/240 s), transformed the film to a poorly ordered vitreous phase, suggesting a novel method for solid state amorphization. Reitveld refinement analyses showed significant differences in structural parameters of the films crystallized by rapid and conventional thermal annealing. Dependence of the elastic modulus on the valence electron density (VED) of the crystallized films was studied. It is suggested that RTA provides a new approach to fabricate patterned shape memory thin films.     

Temperature dependence of resistance and thermopower of thin indium tin oxide films

We have measured the resistance and thermopower of a series of RF sputtered and annealed indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films from 300 K down to liquid-helium temperatures. Thermal annealing was performed to modulate the levels of disorder (i.e., resistivity) of the samples. The measured resistances are well described by the Bloch-Grüneisen law between 150 and 300 K, suggesting that our thin films are metallic. At lower temperatures, a resistance rise with decreasing temperature was observed, which can be quantitatively ascribed to the two-dimensional electron-electron interaction and weak-localization effects. The thermopowers in all samples are negative and reveal fairly linear temperature dependence over the whole measurement temperature range, strongly indicating free-electron like conduction characteristics in ITO thin films. As a result, the carrier concentration in each film can be reliably determined. This work demonstrates that ITO films as thin as 15 nm thick can already possess high metallic conductivity.     

Comparison of the thermal properties between composites reinforced by raw and amino-functionalized carbon materials

Carbon materials, such as graphite oxides, carbon nanotubes and graphenes, have exceptional thermal conductivity, which render them excellent candidates as fillers in advanced thermal interface materials for high density electronics. In this paper, these carbon materials were functionalized with 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl sulphone (DDS), to enhance the bonding between the carbon materials and the resin matrix. Their visibly different properties were investigated. It seems that DDS-functionalization can obviously improve the interfacial heat transfer between the carbon materials and the epoxy matrix. The thermal conductivity enhancement of D-Graphene composites (0.493 W/m K) was about 30% higher than that of D-MWNTs composites (0.387 W/m K) at 0.5 vol.% loading. The different effects among EGO, D-EGO, MWNTs, D-MWNTs and D-Graphene in polymer composites were also discussed. It was demonstrated that DDS-functionalized carbon materials had an obvious effect on the thermal performances of composite materials and were more effective in thermal conductivity enhancement.     

Annealing influence on electrical transport mechanism of electroless deposited very thin Ag(W) films

Morphology and conductivity (σ) of the non-tarnishing electroless Ag(W) films for interconnect were studied as a function of thickness (d) by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Tunneling Atomic Force Microscopy methods. For d ≤ 100 nm the conductivity dependence on thickness can be modeled as percolation of the electrical transport while for thicker d > 100 nm layers it was independent on d (σ = σ₀). A simple electrical circuit model that described the experimental dependence σ(d) for both thin and thick layers was proposed. The AFM study has shown that the small network changes in the film morphology, due to vacuum annealing cause the significant (few orders of magnitude) improvements in electrical conductivity. Although, near bulk conductivity was achieved for the thicker sample, vacuum annealing was not sufficient to achieve such conductivity for very thin Ag(W) films.     

Thermal conductivity and sound velocity measurements of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited a-SiC:H thin films

We report ultrafast optical measurements of the thermal conductivity and longitudinal sound velocity for a-SiC:H thin films deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Porous and non-porous films with mass densities ranging from 1.0-2.5 g/cm³ were obtained by intentionally varying the PECVD process conditions. The longitudinal sound velocities for these materials as determined by picosecond ultrasonics ranged from 2370 m/s to 10460 m/s, and the Young's modulus determined from the sound velocity measurements ranged from 5-200 GPa. Time domain thermoreflectance measurements determined the thermal conductivity to range from 0.0009 W/cmK to 0.042 W/cmK.     

Room temperature deposited vanadium oxide thin films for uncooled infrared detectors

We demonstrate the room temperature deposition of vanadium oxide thin films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique for application as the thermal sensing layer in uncooled infrared (IR) detectors. The films exhibit temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of 2.8%/K implies promising application in uncooled IR detectors. A 2-D array of 10-element test microbolometer is fabricated without thermal isolation structure. The IR response of the microbolometer is measured in the spectral range 8-13 μm. The detectivity and the responsivity are determined as ∼6×10⁵ cm Hz^1/2/W and 36 V/W, respectively, at 10 Hz of the chopper frequency with 50 μA bias current for a thermal conductance G∼10-3 W/K between the thermal sensing layer and the substrate. By extrapolating with the data of a typical thermally isolated microbolometer (G∼10⁻⁷ W/K), the projected responsivity is found to be around 10⁴ V/W, which well compares with the reported values.     

Structural and surface property study of sputter deposited transparent conductive Nb-doped titanium oxide films

We have investigated structural and surface property of transparent conductive Nb-doped titanium oxides (TNO) thin film with high conductivity of 10⁻⁴ Ω cm order which were made by RF-magnetron sputtering at high deposition rates followed by an annealing in vacuum. The grain sizes of TNO evaluated by atomic force microscope were found to become larger by annealing at temperature higher than 500 °C. The measured work functions of the TNO films using ultra-violet light photoelectron spectroscopy were 5.02-5.47 eV, and depended on TNO grain size and on the amount of surface weakly bound oxygen that was estimated from peak area intensities of O(1 s) X-ray photoelectron spectra.     

Contribution study of properties of copper indium diselenide thin films

Stoichiometric powder of CuInSe₂ (CIS) was prepared from molten stoichiometric quantities of the elements. The structure analyzed by X-ray diffraction powder (XRD), shows mainly the chalcopyrite phase. CIS polycrystalline thin films deposited from this powder have been grown on glass substrates in vacuum by thermal evaporation method. The structural and electrical properties of both as-deposited and annealed films were studied using X-ray diffraction and dark conductivity measurements respectively. As-prepared films at room temperature showed an amorphous structure. However, the chalcopyrite structure with (112) preferential orientation was observed after annealing in vacuum at 400 °C during 30 min. The influence of the annealing process on the dark conductivity of the films was also discussed.     

Structural and thermal characterization of La5Ca9Cu24O41 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on (1 1 0) SrTiO3 substrates

In the present study stoichiometric, b-axis oriented La₅Ca₉Cu₂₄O₄₁ thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on (1 1 0) SrTiO₃ substrates in the temperature range 600-750 °C. High resolution transmission electron microscopy was employed to investigate the growth mechanism and the epitaxial relationship between the SrTiO₃ substrates and the La₅Ca₉Cu₂₄O₄₁ films grown at 700 °C. The 3-ω method was used to measure the cross-plane thermal conductivity of La₅Ca₉Cu₂₄O₄₁ films in the temperature range 50-350 K. The observed glass-like behavior is attributed to atomic-scale defects, grain boundaries and an interfacial layer formed between film and substrate.     

Oxidation of magnetron sputtered La-Si thin films for solide oxide fuel cell electronlytes

La-Si thin films were deposited on stainless steel substrates by magnetron sputtering from pure La and Si targets. The Si/(Si + La) atomic ratio in the films was varied from 43.2 to 59.3% by adjusting the discharge current on the La target. The films had a homogeneous chemical composition down to the substrate and sharp interfaces. Annealing the films in air at 1173 K promotes the formation of apatite-structure La_9.33Si₆O₂₆ and the diffusion of different species from the film to the substrate and vice-versa, resulting in broadening the interfaces. X-Ray diffraction showed that all the as-deposited films had an amorphous structure. The formation of the LaSi₂ phase at intermediate temperatures was observed for the films deposited with higher Si contents while the films deposited with lower Si contents remained amorphous up to the start of the apatite structure crystallization process. The lanthanum silicate apatite-like phase (La_9.33Si₆O₂₆) was obtained only after annealing at 1173 K, excepted for the film with the lower Si content which is already partially crystallized after annealing at 1073 K. Quite pure La_9.33Si₆O₂₆ was obtained only after annealing the film with the highest Si content (Si/(Si + La) = 59.3%) although the theoretical Si/(Si + La) atomic ratio for apatite structure lanthanum silicate is 39%. For the other films, La₂O₃ was always detected when the lanthanum silicate phase was formed. Both phenomena clearly resulted from the strong diffusion of silicon excess towards the stainless steel substrate.     

Structural properties of indium tin oxide thin films prepared for application in solar cells

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films prepared by rf sputtering were annealed in several temperatures. The electrical, optical and structural properties of these films are systematically investigated. The post annealing of the samples lead to considerably higher electrical conductivity, better optical transparency and larger grain size for the films. In an optimum annealing temperature of 400 °C, we have found that a maximized conductivity of films is achieved without a remarkable loss in their transparency. The sheet resistance of 2.3 Ω/□ and average grain size of 30 nm, are the results of the optimized post processing of films. The investigation for microstructure of films investigated by X-ray diffraction measurement (XRD) shows that a preferential crystal growth toward the (2 2 2) orientation takes place when the annealing temperature increases to 400 °C.     

The effect of annealing on structural, electrical and optical properties of nanostructured ITO films prepared by e-beam evaporation

Tin doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films with composition of 9.42 wt% SnO₂ and 89.75 wt% In₂O_3, and impurities balanced on glass substrates at room temperature have been prepared by electron beam evaporation technique and then were annealed in air at different temperatures from 350 to 550 °C for 1 h. XRD pattern showed that increasing annealing temperature increased the crystallinity of thin films and at 550 °C high quality crystalline thin films with grain size of about 37 nm were obtained. Conductivity of ITO thin films was increased by increasing annealing temperature and conductivity obtained results in 350-550 °C temperature range were also excellently fitted in both Arrhenius-type and Davis-Mott variable-range hopping conductivity models. The UV-vis transmittance spectra were also confirmed that the annealing temperature has significant effect on the transparency of thin films. The highest transparency over the visible wavelength region of spectrum (93%) obtained at 550 °C on annealing temperature. It should be noted that this thin film was deposited on substrate at room temperature. This result obtained is equivalent with those values that have already been reported but with high-level (20 wt%) tin doped indium oxide thin films and also at 350 °C substrate temperature. The allowed direct band gap at the temperature range 350-550 °C was estimated to be in the range 3.85-3.97 eV. Band gap widening with an increase in annealing temperature was observed and is explained on the basis of Burstein-Moss shift. A comparison between the electron beam evaporation and other deposition techniques showed that the better figure of merit value can be obtained by the former technique. At the end we have compared our results with other techniques.