Measurement of Thermal Conductivity of Anisotropic SiC Crystal

Silicon carbide (SiC) crystals with excellent heat conduction and thermal stability can be widely used in microelectronic devices and integrated circuits. It is important for the study of a functional type SiC material to have accurate thermal-conductivity and thermal-diffusivity values of SiC crystal. A 3ω technique is employed to determine the anisotropic thermal conductivity of SiC crystal. Three micrometal probes with different widths are deposited by chemical-vapor deposition on the surface of SiC crystal. Each micrometal probe is used as a heater, and also as a thermometer. The temperature fluctuation signals of a micrometal probe represent heat conduction in different directions in the specimen. Thermal conductivities both in the cross-plane and in-plane directions of SiC crystal are achieved through fitted values. The results indicate that thermal conductivities in three different directions of SiC crystal can be characterized using the metal heater construction.