Determination of thermal conductivity of thin layers used as transparent contacts and antireflection coatings with a photothermal method.

A photothermal experiment with mirage detection was used to determine the thermal conductivity of various thin films deposited on semiconductor substrates. The first type consisted of conducting oxide films: ZnO and CdO deposited on GaSb:Te, while the other contained high dielectric constant HfO(2) layers on Si. All films were fabricated using a magnetron sputtering technique. Experimental results showed that the value of the thermal conductivity of ZnO and CdO films is lower than the value obtained for HfO(2). Thermal conductivities of investigated thin films are about 2 orders of magnitude lower than those corresponding to bulk materials.