Thermal conductivity of silicon nanomaterials measured using the photoacoustic technique in a piezoelectric configuration

In this study, we investigated the thermal transport in porous silicon nanostructures and silicon nanowires fabricated by electrochemical and metal-assisted chemical etching processes, respectively. In particular, the thermal conductivity values for the silicon-based nanomaterials were estimated based on photoacoustic measurements obtained from piezoelectric recordings. The amplitude–frequency and phase–frequency dependencies of the photoacoustic responses of the nanostructured silicon samples were obtained, and simulated successfully with a theoretical model. Correlations were established between the thermal conductivities and etching parameters.