Thermal and Electrical Conductivities of Porous Si Membranes

The microstructure of materials affects thermal and electrical transport as well as the physical properties. The effects of the microstructure on both thermal and electrical transport in silicon membranes with periodic microporous structures produced from silicon-on-insulator wafers using microfabrication processes were studied. The in-plane thermal and electrical conductivities of the Si membranes were measured simultaneously by using a self-heating method. The measured thermal conductivity was compared with the result from the periodically laser-heating method. The thermal and electrical conductivities were much lower in the porous membranes than in the non-porous membrane. The measured thermal conductivity was much lower than expected based on values determined using classical models. A significant phonon size effect was observed even in microsized structures, and the mean free path for phonons was very long. It was concluded that phonon transport is quasi-ballistic and electron transport is diffuse in microporous Si structures. It was suggested that the microstructure had a different effect on thermal and electrical transport.