Raman study on thermal conductivity of oxide-coated silicon nanowires

The thermal conductivity of amorphous-oxide-coated silicon nanowires (SiNWs) was investigated based on Raman spectroscopy. Currently, it was complex and troublesome to measure the thermal conductivity of SiNWs. Therefore, to develop a new measurement technique for thermal characterization was necessary and urgent. SiNWs could be seen as a core/shell structure during inevitable air exposure. The thermal conductivity of core/shell SiNWs (0.44Wm ¹K ¹) was found to be 100-fold smaller than that of bulk Si at room temperature by Raman spectroscopy. Hence, Raman spectroscopy has become one of the preferred choices to characterize and investigate nanoscale materials.