  The effect of electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling on thermal transport across
metal-nonmetal interfaces is yet to be completely understood. In this paper, we
use a series of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with e-ph coupling effect
included by Langevin dynamics to calculate the thermal conductance at a model
metal-nonmetal interface. It is found that while e-ph coupling can present
additional thermal resistance on top of the phonon-phonon thermal resistance,
it can also make the phonon-phonon thermal conductance larger than the pure
phonon transport case. This is because the e-ph interaction can disturb the
phonon subsystem and enhance the energy communication between different phonon
modes inside the metal. This facilitates redistributing phonon energy into
modes that can more easily transfer energy across the interfaces. Compared to
the pure phonon thermal conduction, the total thermal conductance with e-ph
coupling effect can become either smaller or larger depending on the coupling
factor. This result helps clarify the role of e-ph coupling in thermal
transport across metal-nonmetal interface.
