Kapitza resistance for nanoscale crystalline and amorphous silicon carbide

The interface between nanoscale films plays a very important role in semiconductor industry. In this paper, the interfacial thermal resistance (Kapitza resistance) of a crystalline and amorphous silicon carbide (SiC) heterojunction has been investigated by using molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that Kapitza resistance at crystalline and amorphous SiC interface depends on the interfacial coupling strength remarkably. Kapitza resistance in the strong interfacial coupling is significantly lower than that in weak coupling. The thickness of the heterojunction and temperature dependence of Kapitza resistance have also been examined. The results have shown that the Kapitza resistance decreases monotonically with the increase of temperature (from 300K to 800K). Moreover, Kapitza resistance can be effectively tuned by cross-plane strain. A 5% compressive strain is able to reduce the Kapitza resistance by 380% in weak coupling case. In contrast, a 5% tensile strain can increase Kapitza resistance by 13%. Our study provides useful guidance to the thermal management and heat dissipation across nanoscale crystalline and amorphous silicon carbide interface, in particular, for the design of silicon carbide nanowire based nano electronics devices.