PROPERTIES OF THE PHONON GAS IN ULTRATHIN MEMBRANES AT LOW TEMPERATURE

We analyze heat conduction by phonons in ultrathin membranes by constructing a new theoreticalframework which implies a crossover from a bulk three-dimensional phonon distribution into a quasi-two-dimensional distribution when the temperature is lowered. We calculate the corresponding changesin the relevant thermodynamic quantities. At the end we make a comparison to experimental data.[S0031-9007(98)07273-1]