Thermal Conductance of Thin Silicon Nanowires

The thermal conductance of individual single crystalline silicon nanowires with diameters less than 30 nm has been measured from 20 to 100 K. The observed thermal conductance shows unusual linear temperature dependence at low temperatures, as opposed to the T³ dependence predicted by the conventional phonon transport model. In contrast to previous models, the present study suggests that phonon-boundary scattering is highly frequency dependent, and ranges from nearly ballistic to completely diffusive, which can explain the unexpected linear temperature dependence.