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High thermal conductivity in cubic boron arsenide crystals

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2019-01-01
JournalAPS March Meeting Abstracts
AuthorsSheng Li, Qiye Zheng, Yinchuan Lv, Xiaoyuan Liu, Xiqu Wang
InstitutionsThe University of Texas at Dallas, University of Houston

The high density of heat generated in power electronics and optoelectronic devices is a critical bottleneck in their application. New materials with high thermal conductivity are needed to effectively dissipate heat and thereby enable enhanced performance of power controls, solid-state lighting, communication, and security systems. We report the experimental discovery of high thermal conductivity at room temperature in cubic boron arsenide (BAs) grown through a modified chemical vapor transport technique. The thermal conductivity of BAs, 1000 ± 90 watts per meter per kelvin meter-kelvin, is higher than that of silicon carbide by a factor of 3 and is surpassed only by diamond and the basal-plane value of graphite. This work shows that BAs represents a class of ultrahigh-thermal conductivity materials predicted by a recent theory, and that it may constitute a useful thermal management material for high-power density electronic devices.