With the aim of characterizing the thermal conductivity for nanometer-scale thermoelectric materials, we have constructed a new measurement system based on ac calorimetry. Analysis of the obtained data requires time-evolution of temperature distribution in nanometer-scale material under periodic heating. In this study, we made a simulation using a C#-program for time-dependent temperature distribution, based on 2-dimensional heat-diffusion equation including the influence of heat emission from material edges. The simulation was applied to AlN with millimeter-scale dimensions for confirming the validity and accuracy. The simulated thermal diffusivity for 10×75-mm2-area AlN was 1.3×10-4 m2/s, which was larger than the value set in the heat-diffusion equation. This overestimation was also observed in the experiment. Therefore, our simulation can reproduce the unsteady heat conduction and be used for analyzing the ac calorimetry experiment.

Silicon self-interstitial atom diffusion and implantation induced damage were studied by using molecular dynamics methods. The diffusion coefficient of interstitial silicon was calculated using molecular dynamics method based on the Stillinger-Weber potential. A comparison was made between the calculation method based on the Einstein relationship and the method based on a hopping analysis. For interstitial silicon diffusion, atomic site exchanges to the lattice atoms occur, and thus the total displacement-based calculation underestimates the ideal value of the diffusivity of the interstitial silicon. In addition with calculating the diffusion constant, we also identified its migration pathway and barrier energy in the case of Stillinger-Weber potential. Through a study of molecular dynamics calculation for the arsenic ion implantation process, it was found that the damage self-recovering process depends on the extent of damage. That is, damage caused by a single large impact easily disappears. In contrast, the damage leaves significant defects when two large impacts in succession cause an overlapped damage region.

Recent years have seen great advances in our understanding and modeling of the coupled diffusion of dopants and defects in silicon during integrated circuit fabrication processes. However, the ever-progressing shrinkage of device dimensions and tolerances leads to new problems and a need for even better models. In this review, we address some of the advances in the understanding of defect-mediated diffusion, focusing on the equations and parameters appropriate for modeling of dopant diffusion in submicron structures.

We proposed a new thchnique using saw wave modulation light to measure the thermal diffusivity of a transparent adhesive by photoacoustic microscope. In this technique, the time required for the measurement of it can be reduced by one-fifth compared with that of a conventional method.