Thermophysical properties of dielectric thin films are essential for researching on the thermal performance of microelectronic, optoelectronic and MEMS devices as well as for their reliability. The Joule-heating experimental method of the double-layer free-standing thin-film structure is used to determine the thermophysical properties of SiO2 and Al2O3 thin films by experiment. The thin films are deposited on the SiNx thin film by PECVD and EBE respectively. The results show that the thermal conductivity of both thin films have the obvious size effect. The value is merely a fraction of the one reported for each bulk specimen, and is coincident with the calculated Minimum Thermal Conductivity (MTC). The measured specific heat capacities are almost the same as those of the corresponding bulk. The steady state heat flow of SiO2/SiNx and Al2O3/SiNx membranes in the measurement is analyzed. The thermal radiation of the thin films always takes a large portion of total heat rejection. Therefore it can not be ignored as many macroscale thermal measurements always do.

Volume Subject Area:
Experimental and Measurement Technologies in Micro/Nanoscale Transport
Keywords:
size effect, thermophysical property, SiO2 thin film, Al2O3 thin film, microscale heat transfer
Topics:
Size effect, Thermal properties, Thin films
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 by ASME
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