Heat flow across an oxide layer in Si

Oxide layers are ubiquitous in Si technology including nanostructures. How such layers interact with heat flow is not well understood. In this contribution, we present the preliminary results of ab initio molecular-dynamic simulations of such interactions. We show that oxide layers reflect (part of) the incoming heat, which results in the accumulation of energy on the warmer side of the layer for longer times than without the presence of the oxide. The results are consistent with earlier predictions that phonon-defect interactions are determined by the vibrational properties of the defect (here, the oxide layer).