THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals

Thermal conductivity in a gas

Heat Flux J → Heat energy flowing per unit of time and unit of area [J·s-1·m2]

A molecule crossing a constant z plane, travelling ℓ since the last collision, will bring a deficit of thermal
energy given by,
∆ ℓ cos

The total thermal energy transported will be,

º
See Lesson T1
1
ℓ cos cos
2
1 1
ℓ cos sin ℓ
2 3

1 Were is heat
1
Hence the thermal conductivity is given by, ℓ
3 capacity per unit of volume

Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials

 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals
1
This expression can also be applied to a “gas” of phonons, ℓ
3

Real Gas Phonon Gas

Behavior at low Temperatures:

~ Constant with Temperature (Speed of sound)

ℓ ~ Constant, little scattering for long wavelengths For T<<TD , ∝

~ Increases as T3

Behavior at high Temperatures:

~ Constant with Temperature (Speed of sound)

~ Constant with Temperature for T>TD For T>TD , ∝ℓ ∝ 1/
ℓ ∝ 1/ as the phonon concentration ∝

What happens at intermediate Temperatures? What rules the mean free path? 2
Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals 1
ℓ
3
Scattering mechanisms for phonons ℓ

(a) The interaction of phonons with one another ⋯

(b) Scattering by point defects (impurities, isotopes, etc.)
1 1 1 1
(c) Scattering by the boundaries of the specimen or crystallites ⋯
ℓ ℓ ℓ ℓ
(d) Scattering by dislocations

(a) Phonon-Phonon collision,

Conservation laws for combination of phonons:
-Energy is conserved:
-Wave vector is conserved:

normal-process

3
Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals
(a) Phonon-Phonon collision, ⁄ ⁄
umklapp-process

2 ⁄

4
Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals
(a) Phonon-Phonon collision, mathematical justification

A sound wave interacts with another and becomes sound modulated:

exp cos (a)

The phase velocity is obtained by writing the equation for a wavefront or surface of constant phase:

cos const.
And differentiating with respect to time to obtain:

sin sin 0

So that the phase velocity is:

sin
sin
Assuming C is small, we can expand expression (a) in powers of C

1 cos ⋯
1 1
exp exp i exp i
2 2

5
Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals

The probability of occurrence of a u-process,

-T<TD, numbers of phonons excited ∝

⁄ ⁄ ⁄
~ so ℓ ~

-T>TD, most phonons have energy large

enough to produce u-process, so probability
proportional to the number of phonons ∝

Scattering of phonons by point defects,

Scattering probability depends on the relation
between the defect size and the wavelength of
the phonon
LiF with proportions 
-Intermediate T, probability ∝ ⁄ of isotopes of 6Li
-High T, probability independent of T

Isotopes,
Isotopes are also point defects
Berman and Brock, Proc. Roy. Soc. A
The heat conductivity of an isotopically pure crystal 289, 46 (1965)

6
is higher than that of a specimen containing a
mixture of isotopes

Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials

 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals

Boundary Scattering,
Low T – Wavelength of the phonon similar to sample size. The boundaries
become a source of scattering, decreasing the thermal conductivity
ℓ ~ Size of the specimen

Dislocation scattering, Prob. scattering ∝ dislocation density ∝ T-2

∝
A summary of the behavior of phonon conductivity

Thacher, PRB 156, 975 (1967)

Pure specimen Impure specimen (isotopically or otherwise)

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Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conductivity of Nonmetals

≲ 0.01 ≲ 0.25 ≳ 0.25

INTERMEDIATE
LOW Temp. Temp. HIGH Temp.

⁄
∝ ∝ ∝ /

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Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conduction in metals

Thermal conduction in metals is due mainly to electrons

while in non-metals it is due to lattice vibrations.

The flux of heat is proportional to the gradient of

temperature (Fick).

Thermal conductivity

As electrons are also part of the electrical conductivity, , there is a relation between thermal and
electrical conductivity,

ℓ
9
Inserting the electronic heat capacity in to the thermal conductivity

Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials

 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conduction in metals

-Inserting the electronic heat capacity ℓ

⇒ 6
into the thermal conductivity ℓ

-Also as ⁄ ℓ , we can calculate the ratio ⁄ ⇒ 6

We will assume that so as so m 2 , this expression reduces to

2.44 10 W Ω K
3
Wiedemann-Franz-Lorentz law

~constant

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Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Thermal conduction in metals
As resistivity is proportional to T over 100K, the thermal conductivity
should be constant in that range of temperatures

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Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials
 PROBLEMS
1.- Estimate the mean free path of phonons in Germanium at 300 K using the following information. Thermal
conductivity κ= 80Wm-1K-1, Debye temperature TD=360K, atomic weight = 72.6, density = 5500 kg·m-3, mean velocity
of sound = 4500 m/s. (Assume that all the heat transport is by phonons)
2.- a. Given that silicon has Young’s modulus of about 110 GPa and a density of 2.3 g cm-3, calculate the mean free
path of phonons in Si at room temperature.  = 148 W m‐1 K‐1 and Cs = 0.703 J K‐1 g‐1
b. Diamond has the same crystal structure as Si but has a very large thermal conductivity, about 1000 W m-1 K-1 at
room temperature. Given that diamond has a specific heat capacity cs of 0.50 J K-1 g-1, Young’s modulus of 830 GPa,
and density  of 0.35 g cm-3, calculate the mean free path of phonons in diamond.
c. GaAs has a thermal conductivity of 200 W m-1 K-1 at 100 K and 80 W m-1 K-1 at 200 K. Its Debye temperature is
TD=360K Calculate its thermal conductivity at 25 C and compare with the experimental value of 44 W m-1 K-1.

3.- From the data of the figure estimate:

(a) The diameters of the sapphire rods;
(b) The value of b that enters the temperature dependence exp{TD/bT} of the
phonon mean free path at intermediate temperatures.
For Sapphire TD=1000 K, speed of sound=104m/s and for T<<TD the volume
heat capacity CV=0.1 T3 Jm-3K-1

Thermal conductivity of artificial sapphire

rods of different diameters.

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R. Berman, E.L. Foster and J. M. Ziman,
Proc. R. Soc. A 231, 130 (1955)

Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Materials