Thermoelectric devices using semiconductor quantum wells

Mahan, G. D.; Lyon, H. B.

doi:10.1063/1.357715

Cited by 61 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…The interface impact of scattering can even cause crossovers in the nanostructure conductivity such that a material with high bulk thermal conductivity is not necessarily the best thermal conductor upon nanostructuring. 21 While thermal-conductivity suppressions can work to improve the efficiency of both thermoelectric and thermoionic cooling, 1, 40,41,42,43,44,45,46 room-temperature estimates, 47 ℓ mfp (T = 300K) ≥ 100 nm, also testifies to some adverse effects even for present devices. Worse, the quest to nanosize modern electronics can only exacerbate the thermal dissipation problems 2,36 since the increase in packing density simultaneously will produce a further degradation in the effective thermaltransport properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phonon Knudsen flow in nanostructured semiconductor systems

Ziambaras¹,

Hyldgaard²

2006

Journal of Applied Physics

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We determine the size effect on the lattice thermal conductivity of nanoscale wire and multilayer structures formed in and by some typical semiconductor materials, using the Boltzmann transport equation and focusing on the Knudsen flow effect. For both types of nanostructured systems we find that the phonon transport is reduced significantly below the bulk value by boundary scattering off interface defects and/or interface modes. The Knudsen flow effects are important for almost all types of semiconductor nanostructures but we find them most pronounced in Si and SiC systems due to the very large phonon mean-free paths. We apply and test our wire thermal-transport results to recent measurements on Si nanowires. We further investigate and predict size effects in typical multilayered SiC nanostructures, for example, a doped-SiC/SiC/SiO 2 layered structure that could define the transport channel in a nanosize transistor. Here the phonon-interface scattering produces a heterostructure thermal conductivity smaller than what is predicted in a traditional heat-transport calculation, suggesting a breakdown of the traditional Fourier analysis even at room temperatures. Finally, we show that the effective thermal transport in a SiC/SiO 2 heterostructure is sensitive to the oxide depth and could thus be used as an in-situ probe of the SiC oxidation progress.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phonon Knudsen flow in nanostructured semiconductor systems

Ziambaras¹,

Hyldgaard²

2006

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…The quantum mixing between quantum wells produce a broadening of the lowest subband that changes the density of states from a two-dimensional shape to a three-dimensional one. On the other hand, as was pointed out by Mahan and Lyon, [4] the finite thermal conductivity of the barriers produces a parasitic effect of backflow of heat, without helping the thermoelectric pumping. -4s a result, we found that as we decrease the period of the superlattice, there is a moderate increase in ZT until it reaches a maximum, and a further reduction of the period reduces the figure of merit.…”

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confidence: 91%

Superlattices in thermoelectric applications

Sofo¹,

Mahan²

1994

AIP Conference Proceedings

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“…Second, several new materials were identified as potential candidates for better thermoelectrics, including the filled skutterudite antimonides [3] and PbTe/Pbl_xEuxTe multiple-quantum-well structures [4]. Among the new materials, superlattices attracted many scientists' attention [5,6,7,8,9]. The interest can be traced back to the quantitative results first obtained by Hicks and Dresselhaus [5] where huge enhancement of thermoelectric properties was predicted for superlattice structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%