Enhancing anisotropy of thermal conductivity based on tandem acoustic Bragg reflectors

Thermal metamaterials have emerged as one of the latest research topics in applied science due to breakthrough advantages in modifying conductive heat flux. An acoustic Bragg reflector (ABR), composed of alternating arrays of two materials with contrasting acoustic impedances, is anticipated to coherently manipulate the transport properties of thermally important phonon branches by attaining interface roughness close to the monoatomic scale. However, there is a lack of research on how a narrow portion of the phononic band of a particular ABR can be extended to cover the entire thermal spectrum. Here, we report a modeling study of thermal transport using ABR, representatively based on GaAs/AlAs, GaN/AlN, or HfO2/SiO2 superlattices. Our calculations show that the anisotropy of thermal conductivity in HfO2/SiO2 can be significantly improved by tandemizing four different ABR layers, thus approaching the theoretically anticipated values based on monolayered materials. This work demonstrates how the tandem ABR can expand forbidden phononic bands beyond that occupied by a single ABR and proposes a practical strategy for realizing spectrally functionalized thermal properties from compound semiconductor materials that can be directly integrated into the existing device fabrication processes.

Automated summary

Thermal metamaterials, particularly the use of acoustic Bragg reflectors (ABR), have shown promising potential in modifying conductive heat flux. In this study, we demonstrate the use of tandem ABR layers to significantly improve the anisotropy of thermal conductivity in HfO2/SiO2 superlattices.