Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:57:41.275Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Carrier Pocket Engineering for the Design of Low Dimensional Thermoelectrics with High Z3DT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Takaaki Koga
Affiliation:
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
Stephen B. Cronin
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
Mildred S. Dresselhaus
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
Get access

Abstract

The concept of carrier pocket engineering applied to Si/Ge superlattices is tested experimentally. A set of strain-symmetrized Si(20Å)/Ge(20Å) superlattice samples were grown by MBE and the Seebeck coefficient S, electrical conductivity σ, and Hall coefficient were measured in the temperature range between 4K and 400K for these samples. The experimental results are in good agreement with the carrier pocket engineering model for temperatures below 300K. The thermoelectric figure of merit for the entire superlattice, Z3DT, is estimated from the measured S and σ, and using an estimated value for the thermal conductivity of the superlattice. Based on the measurements of these homogeneously doped samples and on model calculations, including the detailed scattering mechanisms of the samples, projections are made for δ-doped and modulation-doped samples [(001) oriented Si(20Å)/Ge(20Å) superlattices] to yield Z3DT ≈ 0.49 at 300K.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Hicks, L.D. and Dresselhaus, M.S., Phys. Rev. B 47, 12727 (1993).Google Scholar
2. Harman, T.C., Spears, D.L., and Manfra, M.J., J. Electron. Mater. 25, 1121 (1996).Google Scholar
3. Hicks, L.D., Harman, T.C., Sun, X., and Dresselhaus, M.S., Phys. Rev. B, 53, R10493 (1996).Google Scholar
4. Koga, T., Sun, X., Cronin, S.B., and Dresselhaus, M.S., Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 2950 (1998).Google Scholar
5. Koga, T., Sun, X., Cronin, S.B., and Dresselhaus, M.S., In Thermoelectric Materials-The Next Generation Materials for Small-Scale Refrigeration and Power Generation Applications: MRS Symposium Proceedings, Boston, volume 545, edited by Tritt, T.M., Lyon, H.B. Jr, Mahan, G.D., and Kanatzidis, M.G., pages 375380, Materials Research Society Press, Pittsburge, PA, 1999.Google Scholar
6. Koga, T., Sun, X., Cronin, S.B., and Dresselhaus, M.S., Appl. Phys. Lett. 75, 2438 (1999).Google Scholar
7. Koga, T., Sun, X., Cronin, S.B., and Dresselhaus, M.S., In The 18th International Conference on Thermoelectrics: ICT Symposium Proceedings, Baltimore, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer, Inc., Piscataway, NJ 09955–1331, 1999.Google Scholar
8. Liu, J.L., Moore, C.D., U'Ren, G.D., Lou, Y.H., Lu, Y., Jin, G., Thomas, S.G., Goorsky, M.S., and Wang, K.L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 75 1586 (1999).Google Scholar
9. Koga, Takaaki. Concept and Application of Carrier Pocket Engineering to Design Useful Thermoelectric Materials Using Superlattice Structure. PhD thesis, Harvard University, April 2000. Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences.Google Scholar
10. Borca-Tasciuc, Theodorian, et al, Thermal Conductivity of Symmetrically Strained Si/Ge Superlattices, Nanostrucures and Superlattices, in press.Google Scholar