Investigation of high gigahertz acoustic phonon lifetimes in thin silicon membranes

Acoustic properties of materials in the high gigahertz range are still barely understood, even for well characterized materials like silicon. Acoustic phonons play an important role in dephasing processes as well as in thermal transport in general. Silicon thin films are widely used in the semiconductor microelectronics industry. By measuring the phonon lifetimes in silicon membranes, we hope to further the understanding of thermal transport processes in these systems.