Minimum thermal conductance in graphene and boron nitride superlattice

Abstract

The minimum thermal conductance versus supercell size (ds) is revealed in graphene and boron nitride superlattice with ds far below the phonon mean free path. The minimum value is reached at a constant ratio of ds/L ≈ 5, where L is the thickness of the superlattice; thus, the minimum point of ds depends on L. The phenomenon is attributed to the localization property and the number of confined modes in the superlattice. With the increase of ds, the localization of the confined mode is enhanced while the number of confined modes decreases, which directly results in the minimum thermal conductance. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.