Boltzmann Transport Equation And Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of Thermal Conductivity Of The Copper Film And Their Comparison,

The thermal conductivity of thin-film is not the intrinsic material property as it is for bulk samples, since it depends on the geometric parameter of thin-film, such as the film thickness. This is the so-called property of size effect. This thesis used computer simulation method to study the thermal conductivity of copper thin-film.Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) is the most basic equation that describes the phenomenon of electron transport. This study used BTE to investigate the effect of thickness on the in-plane thermal conductivity of single crystal, defect-free, thin metallic films. The imposed temperature gradient was in the direction of perpendicular to the film plane and the transport of thermal energy was predominantly due to free electron motion. The result was applied to compute the thermal conductivity of copper thin-film.Beside the BTE method, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation has recently brought an uprecedented upsurge of research in microscale heat transfer. Two kinds of MD techniques were used in the thesis. The Equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) technique was used to explore the thermal conductivity of copper thin-film with thickness between 100-400nm. And the homogeneous none-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) technique was used to study the thermal conductivity of film with thickness between 16-70nm. All of the results were compared with the experimental data from the literatures.Last, the thesis gave a review of the results between BTE technique and MD technique.