The reliability and endurance of contemporary devices have been significantly impacted by the need to reduce the size of semiconductors and the issue of heat generated in hot spots of the devices not being efficiently distributed.
Existing thermal management technologies have not been up to the task. Therefore, the discovery of a novel method of heat dissipation based on surface waves formed on thin metal films over the substrate represents a significant advance.
KAIST announced that Professor Bong Jae Lee’s research team in the Department of Mechanical Engineering succeeded in measuring a newly observed transference of heat induced by “surface plasmon polariton” in a thin metal film deposited on a substrate for the first time in the world.
A surface wave called a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) is created on the surface of a metal as a result of a powerful interaction between the electromagnetic field at the metal’s interface with the dielectric and the free electrons there as well as other collectively vibrating particles.
The study team to enhance heat diffusion in nanoscale thin metal sheets used sPPs, surface waves produced at the metal-dielectric interface. This novel heat transfer mode is extremely useful in the device manufacturing process and has the benefit of being able to be produced over a vast area because it happens when a thin film of metal is formed on a substrate.
The significance of this research is that a new heat transfer mode using surface waves over a thin metal film deposited on a substrate with low processing difficulty was identified for the first time in the world. It can be applied as a nanoscale heat spreader to efficiently dissipate heat near the hot spots for easily overheatable semiconductor devices.
Professor Bong Jae Lee
The research team showed that the thermal conductivity increased by about 25% due to surface waves generated over a 100-nm-thick titanium (Ti) film with a radius of about 3 cm.
KAIST Professor Bong Jae Lee, who led the research, said, “The significance of this research is that a new heat transfer mode using surface waves over a thin metal film deposited on a substrate with low processing difficulty was identified for the first time in the world. It can be applied as a nanoscale heat spreader to efficiently dissipate heat near the hot spots for easily overheatable semiconductor devices.”
The finding has significant implications for the future design of high-performance semiconductor devices since it can be used to quickly release heat from a thin nanoscale sheet.
As it enables even more efficient heat transfer at nanoscale thickness while the thin film’s thermal conductivity typically decreases due to the boundary scattering effect, the new heat transfer mode discovered by the research team is expected to address the fundamental issue of thermal management in semiconductor devices.
