Theoretical predicted high-thermal-conductivity cubic Si3N4 and Ge3N4: promising substrate materials for high-power electronic devices.

ABSTRACT

Ceramic substrates play key roles in power electronic device technology through dissipating heat, wherein both high thermal conductivity and mechanical strength are required. The increased power of new devices has led to the replacement of Al2O3 by high thermal conducting AlN and further ß-Si3N4 based substrates. However, the low mechanical strength and/or anisotropic mechanical/thermal properties are still the bottlenecks for the practical applications of these materials in high power electronic devices. Herein, using a combination of density functional theory and modified Debye-Callaway model, two new promising substrate materials γ-Si3N4 and γ-Ge3N4 are predicted. Our results demonstrate for the first time that both compounds exhibit higher room temperature thermal conductivity but less anisotropy in expansion and heat conduction compared to ß-Si3N4. The mechanism underpins the high RT κ is identified as relatively small anharmonicity, high phonon velocity and frequency. The suitability of these two nitrides as substrate materials was also discussed.