Nowadays thin films are widely used in many fields. Thin films cover: cutting tools, medical implants, optical elements, integrated circuits, etc. Metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) layered structures form a base for operation of electronic devices. This is why knowledge of physical properties of thin films is very important. Of course different properties define usability for different applications. Thin films used for passivation should be tight, mechanically and chemically stable. Optical properties of thin films decide a quality of optical coatings. Electric properties are crucial for thin films used in electronic devices. But more often and often thermal properties become important. It is frequently connected with growing integration scale of optic and electronic devices. Thermal properties of thin films can be completely different than these properties of bulk materials. Let us consider a diamond as an example. The thermal conductivity of high-quality single crystals of diamond is about 2 200 W m-1 K-1 at room temperature. But the thermal conductivity of the best 1 mm thick diamond films is not higher than 100 W m-1 K-1. Value of this quantity for very thin diamond films is still lower. The main reason of this fact is that the heat transport in solids is very sensitive to inner structure and thin films contain defects which restrict heat transport by phonons. Additionally highly disordered interfacial layer between the film and a substrate forms a thermal barrier and lowers the effective thermal conductivity of the film. Determination of thermal parameters (the thermal conductivity or the thermal diffusivity) of thin films is a complicated problem. Submicron layers cannot be obtained as free-standing membranes and must be investigated on o substrate. The influence of the thin film on “average” thermal properties of the sample is very weak. This is why sophisticated measuring methods are used for determination of the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusivity of thin films. Non-contact methods which do not require any preliminary sample preparation are preferable. It is experimentally shown, that even very thin layer additionally deposited on investigated sample may considerably change results of measurements.

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