Monte Carlo Simulation of Phonon Backscattering in a Nanowire

Surface roughness can play a large role in phonon transport in nanoscale devices. Phonon scattering at a surface is often treated to be either specular, diffusive, or partially specular and partially diffuse. The observation of backscattering of gas molecules on a surface has led us to speculate that under certain conditions strong phonon backscattering can occur at a surface. Such backscattering is usually not taken into account in phonon transport simulation. In this work, Monte Carlo simulation of phonon transport is employed to investigate whether phonon backscattering can occur at the surface of a silicon nanowire with V-shaped surface roughness of various sizes.