Particle size effect on thermal conductivity of AlN films with embedded diamond particles

Fabricating composite thin films is an effective and economic solution to improve the thermal performance of the films. The diamond particles of different sizes were successfully embedded in AlN thin films by a chemical solution approach, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscope, x-ray diffraction analysis and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The thermal properties of the films embedded with different diamond particles were studied by using a 3-omega method, which was observed to be strongly dependent on the particle size. A 19 % enhancement in thermal conductivity can be achieved by embedding diamond particles of 1-μm radius in AlN thin films. However, the thermal conductivity decreases after embedding with 10-nm radius diamond particles. The results are discussed with high volume model, which confirms that the interface thermal resistance between the embedded materials and the films plays an important role in determining the thermal conductivity of the as-grown carbon material embedded AlN films.