Nanoslot Patterns for Enhanced Thermal Anisotropy of Si Thin Films

Materials with a large thermal anisotropy can be widely used to guide the heat flow for various energy-related applications. Other than the well-known thermal conductivity contrast along the in-plane and cross-plane directions of a thin film, the in-plane thermal anisotropy within a thin film is less emphasized. However, such a thermal anisotropy can be easily adopted for the thermal management of thin-film-based electronic devices in practice. In this work, two-dimensional Si thin films patterned with through-film nanoslots are studied for their enhanced in-plane thermal anisotropy. Specifically, the anisotropy of the nanoslot pattern can be further increased if rows of nanoslot patterns have an offset. Within the limitation of nanofabrication techniques, offset nanoslot patterns can provide more scopes for tailoring the transport properties. These nanoslot-patterned thin films can be widely used for applications such as heat guide, thermal insulation, and thermoelectrics.