This paper describes a theoretical investigation of near-field radiative heat transfer between doped silicon surfaces separated by a vacuum gap. Using an improved dielectric function model for heavily doped silicon, along with fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and dyadic Green’s function, the present authors calculated the energy transfer between the doped silicon surfaces near room temperature. The effects of doping level, polarization, and width of the vacuum gap on the overall radiative transfer were investigated. It was observed that increase in the doping concentration of the emitter does not necessarily enhance the energy transfer in the near field. The energy-streamline method was used to model the lateral shift of the energy pathway, which is the trace of the Poynting vectors in the vacuum gap. The analysis performed in this study may facilitate the understanding of near-field radiation for applications such as thermal management in nanoelectronics, energy conversion systems, and nanothermal manufacturing.
Hyperbolic metamaterial-based near-field thermophotovoltaic system for hundreds of nanometer vacuum gap
