David Cahill

About

David G. Cahill is a professor associated with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on materials science and engineering, with a particular emphasis on thermal transport, heat conduction, and related phenomena. He is involved in various research activities, including working with visiting scientists, post-doctoral research associates, graduate students, and undergraduate students, contributing to the advancement of knowledge in his field. His contact information is provided through the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, located in Urbana, Illinois.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Composite material
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Condensed matter physics
• Optics
• Organic chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Nuclear physics

Selected publications

• Extremely anisotropic van der Waals thermal conductors

  Nature · 2021 · 312 citations

  films is close to the single-crystal value. Covering nanofabricated gold electrodes with our anisotropic films prevents overheating of the electrodes and blocks heat from reaching the device surface. Our work establishes interlayer rotation in crystalline layered materials as a new degree of freedom for engineering-directed heat transport in solid-state systems.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Ultrahigh thermal conductivity in isotope-enriched cubic boron nitride

  Science · 2020 · 311 citations

  B. In comparison, we found that the isotope enhancement of κ is considerably lower for boron phosphide and boron arsenide as the identical isotopic mass disorder becomes increasingly invisible to phonons. The ultrahigh κ in conjunction with its wide bandgap (6.2 electron volts) makes cBN a promising material for microelectronics thermal management, high-power electronics, and optoelectronics applications.

  DOI

• High thermal conductivity in wafer-scale cubic silicon carbide crystals

  Nature Communications · 2022 · 173 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  at room temperature in high-quality wafer-scale cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) crystals, which is the second highest among large crystals (only surpassed by diamond). Furthermore, the corresponding 3C-SiC thin films are found to have record-high in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivity, even higher than diamond thin films with equivalent thicknesses. Our results resolve a long-standing puzzle that the literature values of thermal conductivity for 3C-SiC are lower than the structurally more…

  DOI

• Thermal Conductivity of Polyurethane Thin Films

  Macromolecules · 2024-07-11 · 11 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding

  Heat transport by solid conduction of polyurethane (PU) is a significant fraction of the total thermal conductivity of rigid PU foam. Despite its significance, the intrinsic thermal conductivity of solid PU materials is not well characterized, a circumstance largely attributable to the challenges of preparing fully dense materials that are free of voids due to CO2 gas formation and entrapment caused by the fast reaction between a trace amount of water in a polyol and isocyanate during curing. We…

  PublisherDOI

• Thermal contribution to current-driven antiferromagnetic-order switching

  APL Materials · 2024-08-01 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In information technology devices, current-driven state switching is crucial in various disciplines including spintronics, where the contribution of heating to the switching mechanism plays an inevitable role. Recently, current-driven antiferromagnetic order switching has attracted considerable attention due to its implications for next-generation spintronic devices. Although the switching mechanisms can be explained by spin dynamics induced by spin torques, some reports have claimed that demagn…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• MRSEC: Illinois Materials Research Center

  NSF · $16.1M · 2017–2024

• Collaborative Research: Nanoscale Heat Transfer and Phase Transformation Surrounding Intensely Heated Nanoparticles

  NSF · $214k · 2010–2014

• Evolution of Stress and Mass Transport During keV Ion Bombardment

  NSF · $380k · 2004–2007

Frequent coauthors

• Darrell G. Schlom

  Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth

  76 shared

• Simon R. Phillpot

  University of Florida

  69 shared

• Ella Pek

  67 shared

• Kiyoung Lee

  National Central University

  64 shared

• Natalie M. Dawley

  64 shared

• Aleksandr Chernatynskiy

  Missouri University of Science and Technology

  64 shared

• Che-Hui Lee

  Missouri University of Science and Technology

  64 shared

• Xue Xiong

  Hebei Normal University

  64 shared

Awards & honors

• Paul G. Klemens Award, International Conference on Phonon Sc…
• Elected member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Engin…
• Tau Beta Pi Daniel C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award, College…
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science,…
• Innovation in Materials Characterization Award, Materials Re…

Similar researchers at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Nancy R. Sottosh-89
• Ken Schweizerh-77
• Chris Andersonh-76