A Review of Simulation Methods in Micro/Nanoscale Heat Conduction

A Review of Simulation Methods in Micro/Nanoscale Heat ConductionSignificant progress has been made in the past two decades about the micro/nanoscale heat conduction.Many computational methods have been developed to accommodate the needs to investigate new physical phenomena at micro/nanoscale and support the applications like microelectronics and thermoelectric materials.In this review, we first provide an introduction of state-of-the-art computational methods for micro/nanoscale conduction research.Then the physical origin of size effects in thermal transport is presented.The relationship between the different methods and their classification are discussed.In the subsequent sections, four commonly used simulation methods, including first-principles Boltzmann transport equation, molecular dynamics, non-equilibrium Green's function, and numerical solution of phonon Boltzmann transport equation will be reviewed in details.The hybrid method and coupling scheme for multiscale heat transfer simulation are also briefly discussed.