Thermal resistance of a nanoscale point contact to an indium arsenide nanowire

The thermal resistance of a nanoscale point contact to an indium arsenide nanowire was experimentally determined to be two orders of magnitude larger than the theoretical prediction based on the diffuse mismatch model for a welded contact. The discrepancy is attributed mainly to a much smaller phonon transmission coefficient for the weak van der Waals contact than for a welded contact. The experiment further suggests the need of careful examination of the structure and defects in the nanowire sample for similar thermal transport measurements of individual nanowires. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3623758]