Thermal Conductivity Measurement of Submicron-Thick Aluminium Oxide Thin Films by a Transient Thermo-Reflectance Technique

Thermal conductivity of submicron-thick aluminium oxide thin films prepared by middle frequency magnetron sputtering is measured using a transient thermo-reflectance technique. A three-layer model based on transmission line theory and the genetic algorithm optimization method are employed to obtain the thermal conductivity of thin films and the interfacial thermal resistance. The results show that the average thermal conductivity of 330–1000 nm aluminium oxide thin films is 3.3 Wm−1K−1 at room temperature. No significant thickness dependence is found. The uncertainty of the measurement is less than 10%.