Heat transport measured on suspended single-layer graphene membranes

Graphene is a material candidate for integration in nanoelectronic devices; however, with the continuous decreasing of the length scales, thermal transport is becoming a critical issue for heat dissipation in these devices. Moreover, the study of heat transport in graphene provides the opportunity to investigate fundamental aspects, such as non-diffusive thermal transport regimes.

The ICN2 Phononic and Photonic Nanostructures (P2N) Group, led by ICREA Prof. Dr Clivia M. Sotomayor-Torres, has published a work in 2D Materials presenting heat transport measurements on suspended single-layer graphene membranes using high-resolution thermometry. The suggested approach overcomes major limitations of conventional experimental methods usually caused by extrinsic thermal contact resistances, assumptions on the value of the graphene's optical absorbance and limited thermal spatial resolution.

The work was partially supported by the ICN2 Severo-Ochoa Mobility Program, which allowed Dr Alexandros El Sachat, at that time a Ph. D. student in the P2N Group under the supervision of Dr Francesc Alzina, to perform a research stay at the IBM Research Center – Zurich hosted by Prof. Bernd Gotsmann, staff researcher in the Nanoscale Devices & Materials Group of the Science & Technology department. The collaboration included the Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group (ICN2), led by Prof. José Antonio Garrido and, specifically, the essential contribution of Dr Elena Del Corro.

Article reference:

Alexandros El Sachat, Fabian Köeneman, Fabian Menges, Elena Del Corro, Jose A. Garrido, Clivia M Sotomayor Torres, Francesc Alzina and Bernd Gotsmann. Crossover from ballistic to diffusive thermal transport in suspended graphene membranes. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ab097d