Thermal conductivity of silicon nanomaterials measured using the photoacoustic technique in a piezoelectric configuration

In this study, we investigated the thermal transport in porous silicon nanostructures and silicon nanowires fabricated by electrochemical and metal-assisted chemical etching processes, respectively. In particular, the thermal conductivity values for the silicon-based nanomaterials were estimated based on photoacoustic measurements obtained from piezoelectric recordings. The amplitude-frequency and phase-frequency dependencies of the photoacoustic responses of the nanostructured silicon samples were obtained, and simulated successfully with a theoretical model. Correlations were established between the thermal conductivities and etching parameters.