Abstract
The thermal conductivity of a nanostructure is sensitive to its dimensions. A simple analytical scaling law that predicts how conductivity changes with the dimensions of the structure, however, has not been developed. The lack of such a law is a hurdle in “phonon engineering” of many important applications. Here, we report an analytical scaling law for thermal conductivity of nanostructures as a function of their dimensions. We have verified the law using very large molecular dynamics simulations.
- Received 27 October 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.073304
©2010 American Physical Society