Thermal conductance and electron-phonon coupling in mechanically suspended nanostructures

1 July 2002

journal article
research article
Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters

Vol. 81 (1) , 31-33
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1491300

Abstract

We have fabricated and characterized the principal thermal properties of a mechanically suspended nanostructure, consisting of a micron-scale suspended GaAs island, upon which we have defined superconductor-insulator-normal metal tunnel junctions. The tunnel junctions allow for sensitive thermometry and heating of the electrons in a thermally isolated normal metal element, permitting the determination of the low-temperature thermal conductance of the legs that support the GaAs island, as well as the low-temperature electron-phonon coupling. This device forms the basis of a nanoscale bolometric detector, whose optical performance can be estimated from these measurements.

Keywords

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