International audienceThis Letter reports the thermal conductivity of aluminium nitride (AlN) thin-films deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering on single-crystal silicon substrates (100) with varying plasma and magnetic conditions achieving different crystalline qualities. The thermal conductivity of the films was measured at room temperature with the transient hot-strip technique for film thicknesses ranging from 100 nm to 4000 nm. The thermal conductivity was found to increase with the thickness depending on the synthesis conditions and film microstructure. The conductivity in the bulk region of the films, so-called intrinsic conductivity, and the boundary resistance were in the range [120-210] W m(-1) K-1 and [2-30 x 10(-9)] K m(2) W-1, respectively, in good agreement with microstructures analysed by x-ray diffraction, high-resolution-scanning-electron-microscopy, and transmission-electron-microscopy

For the first time, we report the thermal conductivity of vertically aligned boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) films produced by catalytic chemical vapor deposition. High-quality BNNTs were synthesized at 1200 °C on fused silica substrates precoated with Pt thin-film thermometers. The thermal conductivity of the BNNTs was measured at room temperature by using a pulsed photothermal technique. The apparent thermal conductivity of the BNNT coatings increased from 55 to 170 W m−1 K−1 when the thickness increased from 10 to 28 µm, while the thermal conductivity attained a value as high as 2400 W m−1 K−1. These results suggested that BNNTs, which are highly thermally conductive, but electrically insulating, are promising materials with unique properties.