Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T11:35:42.362Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Thermoelectric Transport in Superlattices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

D. A. Broido
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02167, broido@bc.edu
T. L. Reinecke
Affiliation:
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC 20375, reinecke@estd.nrl.navy.mil
Get access

Abstract

A quantitative description of the power factor for thermoelectric transport in quantum well and quantum wire superlattices has been developed. The size dependence of the carrier scattering rates as well as carrier tunneling between layers are included, and results are obtained for full three-dimensional superlattice systems. In addition, model calculations of the lattice thermal conductivity of free standing wells and wires have been obtained, and their implications for the thermoelectric figure of merit are discussed. Illustrative results are given for GaAs and PbTe systems.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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

1. Mahan, Gerald, Brian Sales and Jeff Sharp, Physics Today 50(No. 3), 42 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Hicks, L. D. and Dresselhaus, M. S., Phys. Rev. B 47, 12727 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Hicks, L. D., Harman, T. C. and Dresselhaus, M. S., Appl. Phys. Lett. 63, 3230 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Hicks, L. D. and Dresselhaus, M. S., Phys. Rev. B 47, 16631 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Sofo, J. O. and Mahan, G. D., Appl. Phys. Lett. 65, 2690 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Broido, D. A. and Reinecke, T. L., Phys. Rev. B 51, 13797 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Broido, D. A. and Reinecke, T. L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 100 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Broido, D. A. and Reinecke, T. L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 1170 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Lin-Chung, P. J. and Reinecke, T. L., Phys. Rev. B 51, 13224 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Broido, D. A. and Reinecke, T. L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 2834 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Goldsmid, H. J., in Thermoelectric Refrigeration, Plenum Press, NY (1964).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12. Ziman, J. M., Electrons and Phonons (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1960).Google Scholar
13. See, for example, Nag, B. R., Electron Transport in Compound Semiconductors (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1980).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14. Sofo, J. O. and Mahan, G. D., Phys. Rev. B 49, 4565 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Rücker, H.,Molinari, E. and Lugli, P., Phys. Rev. B 45, 6747 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16. Knipp, P. A. and Reinecke, T. L., Phys. Rev. B 48, 18037 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17. LeBurton, J. P., J. Appl. Phys. 56, 2850 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18. Broido, D. A. and Reinecke, T. L., to be published.Google Scholar
19. Koga, T., Cronin, S. B., Harman, T. C., Sun, X. and Dresselhaus, M. S., MRS Symposium Proceedings Series, Vol. 490, pg. 263 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20. Tien, C. L. and Chen, G., Journal of Heat Transfer 116, 799 (1994), and references therein.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21. Hyldgaard, P. and Mahan, G. D., Thermal Conductivity 23 (Technomic Publishing Co. Inc., Lancaster, Pennsylvania) pg. 172, (1996).Google Scholar
22. Chen, G., National Heat Transfer Conference, HTD-Vol. 323, 121 (1996).Google Scholar
23. Hyldgaard, Per. and Mahan, G. D., Phys. Rev. B 56, 10754 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24. Yao, T., Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 1798 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25. Yu, X. Y., Chen, G., Verman, A., and Smith, J. S., Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 3554 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26. Capinski, W. S. and Maris, H., Physica B 219&220, 699 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27. Lee, S. M., Cahill, D. G., and Venkatasubramanian, R., Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 2957 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28. Broido, D. A. and Reinecke, T. L., to be published.Google Scholar