Inelastic phonon interactions at solid-graphite interfaces

The presented model predicts thermal boundary conductance at interfaces where one material comprising the junction is characterized by high elastic anisotropy. In contrast to previous approaches, the current methodology accounts for contributions from inelastic scattering through consideration of multiple-phonon interactions. Inelastic contributions become significant as the temperature, as well as the degree of acoustic mismatch between the materials, increases. Inclusion of the inelastic interactions is necessary for a variety of interfacial systems including the metal-graphite boundary examined here. Improvement is shown over existing approaches that address only elastic scattering as both three- and four-phonon interactions significantly augment the transport. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.