Abstract
We investigated the element substitution effect on the thermal conductivity in -based superlattice thin films epitaxially grown on a MgO (100) substrate. We found unique crossover behavior in the period dependences of thermal conductivity for Ta-free and -based superlattices. The -based superlattices with periods more than 40 nm appeared to have much lower thermal conductivity than Ta-free -based superlattices due to the substitution of V by Ta. Unexpectedly, at a shorter periodic length, less than 20 nm, -based superlattices appeared to have higher thermal conductivity than Ta-free -based superlattices despite such a heavy element substitution by Ta. This surprising experimental fact was well accounted for with theoretical calculations, which predicted the dominant contribution of phonons having a shorter mean free path in the Ta substituted samples.
- Received 16 March 2020
- Accepted 1 September 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.104301
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