Effect of microstructure on Au/sapphire interfacial thermal resistance

We deposit Au films on single crystal sapphire substrates by sputtering and evaporation methods. The microstructure characteristics such as crystal textures, grain sizes, and fraction of contacted area of the films are examined by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The sputtered films have an average grain size of about 200 nm and perfectly attach to the substrates; the as-evaporated films partially attach to the substrate; the grain size varies from 10 to 30 nm, and after annealing, increases to 50 nm. Au2Al phase is observed in the annealed samples. The interfacial thermal resistance is measured by a frequency domain thermoreflectance method. The thermal resistance of the sputtered Au/sapphire interfaces is 35.5 x 10(-9) m(2) K W-1, and those of the evaporated samples are up to three times as large as this value. The change in interfacial thermal resistance is explained by the effect of detachment using a parallel arranged thermal resistance model, the effect of grain size, and the influence of chemical bonding at the interfaces. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3514563]