Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Heat dissipation rate of the thin film is theoretically related to the thickness of the film. As the film grows on a substrate of constant temperature, the heat dissipation rate would be lower when the film becomes thicker. It is difficult to observe rate change during the film growth through experiment. With MD simulation, this rate can be "observed". A system including Platinum substrate at constant temperature 300K is setup. The constant temperature is obtained by Phantom method.
The average temperature of aluminum thin film is 600K. For various thickness of the film: 3.656nm, 5.302nm, and 7.567nm. The average temperature decays exponentially. Through the simple equation T=(T0-Ts)exp(-kt/d2PCp)+Ts, the dissipation rate should follow the parameter R=k/d2PCp and the parameter α=k/£Cp is the thermal diffusivity. It is observed that the thermal diffusivity increases with film thickness increases.