Modelling thermoelectric transport in III–V nanowires using a Boltzmann transport approach: a review

Abstract

A review of models for determining the thermoelectric transport coefficients S (Seebeck coefficient), σ (electrical conductivity), and κ e (electronic thermal conductivity) is presented, for the cases of bulk and nanowire structures, along with derivations and a discussion of calculation methods. Results for the transport coefficients in GaAs, InAs, InP and InSb are used to determine the thermoelectric figure of merit, where an enhancement by two orders of magnitude is found for the nanowire case as compared with the bulk. The optimal electron concentration is determined as a function of nanowire diameter for both background and modulation doped nanowires.

Self-consistent quantum-kinetic theory for interacting drifting electrons and force-driven phonons in a 1D system

“…By utilizing quantum-mechanics first-order timedependent perturbation theory, the elastic scattering probability per unit time, i.e. 1) and (2) for surface scattering between Q and Q ′ states of γ phonons [33,34], takes the form…”

“…Historically, for a quasi-thermal-equilibrium case, Boltzmann transport equation [1,2] has been extensively utilized to study both electron and phonon transports, respectively, where position-dependent temperatures are introduced through their thermal-equilibrium occupation functions for electrons and phonons. For non-thermal-equilibrium occupation function of either electrons or phonons, on the other hand, no such thermal-temperature concept can be defined and used for exploring these thermodynamic processes.…”

Characterization of electrostatically defined bottom-heated InAs nanowire quantum dot systems

“…While a quantitative analysis of the Seebeck effect would require accurate thermometry, we consider the maximum magnitude of the thermocurrent and calculate the corresponding thermo-voltage ΔV th ≈ 15 μV. As is discussed in section 3, at a heater bias of dV R = 200 mV a maximum temperature difference between the left and right device contact of ΔT = |T L − T R | ≈ 0.5-1 K and an average temperature T = (T L − T R )/2 ≈ 2.5 K are realistic, which in turn yields an estimate for the upper bound of the Seebeck coefficient of |S| = |ΔV th /ΔT| I=0 ≈ 15-30 μV K −1 [7,35]. Here, T L and T R denote the electron temperatures on the source and drain side of the device, respectively.…”

Ultrathin Te-Doped GaP Nanoantenna with Crystal Phase Transitions

“…III–V semiconductor nanowires (NWs), pseudo-one-dimensional crystals with length much greater than their radius, have diverse applications in photovoltaics, thermoelectrics, betavoltaics, and photodetectors, for example. III–V NWs can be realized by the self-assisted vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth method where a liquid metal droplet becomes a collector for adatoms, resulting in site-selective growth (for example, a Ga droplet for the growth of a GaAs NW) .…”