Thermal conductivity of silicon nanowire forests

A large amount of parallel silicon nanowires, placed perpendicularly to a silicon substrate (silicon nanowire forests), have been contacted and assembled in order to fabricate legs of a thermoelectric generator. This paper reports the measurement of the main parameter for thermoelectric applications, which is the thermal conductivity. The reported value, which confirms the strong reduction of the thermal conductivity in nanostructures, is measured on a large amount (>10⁷) of parallel nanowires with a diameter variable in the range 60-120 nm, and takes into account eventual non-uniformities which are unavoidable on surfaces of several mm². As silicon nanowire forests are very thin, it has been necessary to develop a suitable measurement apparatus. The fabrication of devices based on silicon nanowire forests, the apparatus and the measurement procedure, as well as the the results, are illustrated and discussed.