(March 6, 2015) With
more than five times the thermal conductivity of copper, diamond is the
ultimate heat spreader. But the slow rate of heat flow into diamond from other
materials limits its use in practice. In particular, the physical process
controlling heat flow between metals and diamond has remained a mystery to
scientists for many years.
By applying extreme pressure in a diamond anvil cell to
metal films on diamond, researchers at Illinois have now determined the
physical process dominating this unexplained heat flow, which has implications
for understanding and improving heat flow between any two materials.