Power factor characterization of Ge/SiGe thermoelectric superlattices at 300 K

Samarelli, A. et al. (2013) Power factor characterization of Ge/SiGe thermoelectric superlattices at 300 K. Journal of Electronic Materials, 42(7), pp. 1449-1453. (doi: 10.1007/s11664-012-2287-z)

Abstract

To accurately characterize the efficiency of thermoelectric materials and characterize the maximum power that they can produce, a device using micro/nanofabrication techniques has been developed, enabling all three properties included in the figure of merit, ZT, of a thermoelectric material to be measured using a single device. The fabrication and testing of the device are presented. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of Ge/SiGe heterostructures grown by low-energy plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition are used for demonstration. Experimental results as a function of quantum well width are presented, demonstrating power factors up to 6.02 ± 0.05 mW m−1 K−2 at 300 K. Modeling and physical characterization demonstrate that these results are presently limited by high threading dislocation density.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Weaver, Professor Jonathan and Ferre Llin, Dr Lourdes and Dobson, Dr Phil and Zhang, Dr Yuan and Samarelli, Mr Antonio and Paul, Professor Douglas
• Authors: Samarelli, A., Ferre Llin, L., Zhang, Y., Weaver, J.M.R., Dobson, P., Cecchi, S., Chrastina, D., Isella, G., Etzelstorfer, T., Stangl, J., Müller Gubler, E., and Paul, D.J.
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Journal of Electronic Materials
• ISSN: 0361-5235
• ISSN (Online): 1543-186X