An overview of advances in heat conduction models and approaches for prediction of thermal conductivity in thin dielectric films

We first provide an overview of some predominant theoretical methods currently used for predicting thermal conductivity of thin dielectric films: the equation of radiative transfer, the temperature-dependent thermal conductivity theories based on the Callaway model, and the molecular dynamics simulation. This overview also highlights temporal and spatial scale issues by looking at a unified theory that bridges physical issues presented in the Fourier and Cattaneo models. This newly developed unified theory is the so-called C- and F-processes constitutive models. This model introduces the notion of a new dimensionless heat conduction model number, which is the ratio of the thermal conductivity of the fast heat carrier F-processes to the total thermal conductivity comprised of both the fast heat carriers F-processes and the slow heat carriers C-processes. Illustrative numerical examples for prediction of thermal conductivity in thin films are primarily presented.