Thermal boundary resistance between the end of an individual carbon nanotube and a Au surface

The thermal boundary resistance between an individual carbon nanotube and a Au surface was measured using a microfabricated hot-film sensor. We used both closed and open-ended multi-walled carbon nanotubes and obtained thermal boundary resistance values of 0.947-1.22 x 10(7) KW-1 and 1.43-1.76 x 10(7) KW-1, respectively. Considering all uncertainties, including the contact area, the thermal boundary conductances per unit area were calculated to be 8.6 x 10(7)-2.2 x 10(8) Wm(-2) K-1 for c-axis orientation and 4.2 x 10(8)-1.2 x 10(9) Wm(-2) K-1 for the a-axis. The trend in these values agrees with the predicted conductance dependence on the interface orientation of anisotropic carbon-based materials. However, the measured thermal boundary conductances are found to be much larger than the reported results.