Role of interface disorder on thermal boundary conductance using a virtual crystal approach

An analytical method is presented to estimate the effects of structural disorder on the thermal boundary conductance (TBC) between two materials. The current method is an extension of the diffuse mismatch model (DMM) where the interface is modeled as a virtual crystal of finite thickness with properties derived from those of the constituent materials. Using this approximation, the TBC for a series of chromium/silicon interfaces is modeled and shown to be within 18% of experimentally obtained values. The methodology improves upon the predictive capabilities of the DMM and allows for quick estimation of the impact of interface mixing on TBC. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.