Pulse transient hot strip technique adapted for slab sample geometry to study anisotropic thermal transport properties of μm-thin crystalline films.

A new method based on the adaptation of the Pulse Transient Hot Strip technique to slab sample geometry has been developed for studying thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of anisotropic thin film materials (<50 μm) with thermal conductivity in the 0.01-100 W/mK range, deposited on thin substrates (i.e., wafers). Strength of this technique is that it provides a well-controlled thermal probing depth, making it possible to probe a predetermined depth of the sample layer and thereby avoiding the influence from material(s) deeper down in the sample. To verify the technique a series of measurements were conducted on a y-cut single crystal quartz wafer. A Hot Strip sensor (32-μm wide, 3.2-mm long) was deposited along two orthogonal crystallographic (x- and z-) directions and two independent pulse transients were recorded. Thereafter, the data was fitted to our theoretical model, and the anisotropic thermal transport properties were determined. Using a thermal probing depth of only 30 μm, we obtained a thermal conductivity along the perpendicular (parallel) direction to the z-, i.e., optic axis of 6.48 (11.4) W/mK, and a thermal diffusivity of 3.62 (6.52) mm(2)/s. This yields a volumetric specific heat of 1.79 MJ/mK. These values agree well with tabulated data on bulk crystalline quartz supporting the accuracy of the technique, and the obtained standard deviation of less than 2.7% demonstrates the precision of this new measurement technique.