Directional thermal channeling: A phenomenon triggered by tight packing of heat sources

Understanding nanoscale thermal transport is critical for nanoengineered devices such as quantum sensors, thermoelectrics, and nanoelectronics. However, despite overwhelming experimental evidence for nondiffusive heat dissipation from nanoscale heat sources, the underlying mechanisms are still not understood. In this work, we show that for nanoscale heat source spacings that are below the mean free path of the dominant phonons in a substrate, close packing of the heat sources increases in-plane scattering and enhances crossplane thermal conduction. This leads to directional channeling of thermal transport-a novel phenomenon. By using advanced atomic-level simulations to accurately access the lattice temperature and the phonon scattering and transport properties, we finally explain the counterintuitive experimental observations of enhanced cooling for closepacked heat sources. This represents a distinct fundamental behavior in materials science with far-reaching implications for electronics and future quantum devices.

Automated summary

This study shows that close packing of nanoscale heat sources can enhance crossplane thermal conduction, leading to directional channeling of thermal transport. Advanced atomic-level simulations were used to explain the counterintuitive phenomenon of enhanced cooling for close-packed heat sources, representing a distinct behavior in materials science with implications for electronics and future quantum devices.