The thermal conductivity and the interface thermal contact resistance of
four different in thickness CuO films, obtained by PVD on a tungsten carbide
substrate were investigated with a developed modulated photothermal method
based on infrared measurement. According to the knowledge of the substrate
thermophysical properties, the gain between the thermal perturbation and the
response of the sample was used as the experimental data. The results show
the dependence of the effective longitudinal thermal conductivity on the
film thickness. Scanning electron microscopy observations reveal the strong
anisotropy and columnar structure of the deposits. Moreover, the chemical
composition of films was tested. A similar composition for each film was
also verified.