Noncontact modulated laser calorimetry in a dc magnetic field for stable and supercooled liquid silicon

Thermal conductivity of liquid silicon is necessary for numerical process modeling. It is also of scientific interest. However, measuring thermal conductivity is a difficult task because of convections in the liquid and contamination from contact materials. To overcome these experimental difficulties, we have developed noncontact modulated laser calorimetry in a dc magnetic field to measure heat capacity, thermal conductivity and emissivity of high-temperature liquid metals. In this study, through improvement in temperature measurements, we considerably reduced the experimental uncertainty of measurements. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of supercooled liquid silicon were measured. Thermal conductivity of liquid silicon agrees with the values calculated assuming the Wiedemann–Franz law near the melting point. This result suggests that free electrons play a dominant role in the thermal transport process in liquid silicon.