Measurement of the thermal conductivity of thin β-SiC films between 80K and 600K

In this paper, measurements of the in plane thermal conductivity kappa(T) Of thin beta-SiC films are presented. The measurements have been carried out using a steady state technique based on a micromechanical test structure, operating from 80 K up to 600 K. In contrast to data for cubic SiC-bulk material, the obtained results are much lower and show a significant drop of kappa at low temperatures and a maximum at room temperature. At higher temperatures, the thermal conductivity decreases slowly, as expected. These effects can be explained by additional crystal defects in the films, such as grain boundaries, causing additional phonon scattering which results in a limited heat flux.