Nanoscale Heat Transfer Modeling in Solids: Data Storage and Electronic Devices

Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), is used to examine multi-length scale, confined heat conduction phenomena in solids for which sub-continuum regime is important. This paper describes the implementation of the method and its application to cases pertinent to data storage and electronic devices. Thin solid films with internal heat generation and with temperature difference across the boundaries are used as case studies to illustrate the benefits of the LBM. We compare our results with various hierarchical equations of heat transfer such as Fourier, Cattaneo, and Boltzmann transport equations, as well as with experimental and numerical data from the literature. Our results exhibit a good agreement with other methodologies in one and two dimensions, at a much lower computational effort.