Investigation of thermal transport degradation in rough Si nanowires

Thermal transport through 〈100〉 and 〈110〉 rough Si nanowires is investigated using an atomistic quantum transport approach based on a modified Keating model and the wave function formalism. The thermal conductance, resistance, and conductivity are calculated for different nanowire lengths and the root mean square of the rough surfaces. The simulation results show that thermal transport is diffusive in rough nanowires without surrounding oxide layers. Its degradation, as compared to ideal structures, cannot be attributed to phonon localization effects, but to the properties of the phonon band structure. Phonon bands with an almost flat dispersion cannot propagate through disordered structures due to the mode mismatch between adjacent unit cells.

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