Thermal Conductivity Analysis of Amorphous Silicon Formed by Natural Cooling: A Molecular-dynamics Study

Abstract

To investigate the thermal conductivity and the structural properties of naturally cooled excimer-laser annealed Si, moleculardynamics (MD) simulations have been performed. The thermal conductivity of crystalline Si (c-Si) was measured by direct method at 1000 K. Steady-state heat flow was measured using a stationary temperature profile; significant deviations from Fourier's law were not observed. Reliable processes for measuring the thermal conductivity of c-Si were presented. A natural cooling process to admit heat flow from molten Si (l-Si) to c-Si was performed using an MD cell with a size of 48.9 × 48.9 × 97.8 Å 3. During the cooling process, the temperature of the bottom 10 Å of the MD cell was controlled at 300 K. The results suggest that the natural cooling system described the static structural property of amorphous Si (a-Si) well.