Si/SiGe nanoscale engineered thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting

Author

Aul, D. J P ; Samarelli, A. ; Llin, L. Ferre ; Watling, J.R. ; Zhang, Y. ; Weaver, J.M.R. ; Dobson, P.S. ; Cecchi, S. ; Frigerio, J. ; Isa, F. ; Chrastina, D. ; Isella, G. ; Etzelstorfer, T. ; Stang, J. ; Gubler, E. Muller

Author_Institution

Sch. of Eng., Univ. of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

fYear

2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

Thermoelectric materials are one potential technology that could be used for energy harvesting. Here we report results from nanoscale Ge/SiGe heterostructure materials grown on Si substrates designed to enhance the thermoelectric performance at room temperature. The materials and devices are aimed at integrated energy harvesters for autonomous sensing applications. We report Seebeck coefficients up to 279.5±1.2 μV/K at room temperature with electrical conductivites of 77,200 S/m which produce a high power factor of 6.02±0.05 mWm^-1K^-2. Methods for microfabricating modules will be described along with techniques for accurate measurements of the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity in micro- and nano-scale devices. The present thermoelectric performance is limited by a high threading dislocation density.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; Seebeck effect; dislocation density; electrical conductivity; energy harvesting; nanostructured materials; semiconductor heterojunctions; silicon; thermal conductivity; thermoelectric conversion; Seebeck coefficients; Si; Si substrates; Si-SiGe; Si-SiGe nanoscale engineered thermoelectric materials; autonomous sensing applications; electrical conductivites; electrical conductivity measurements; energy harvesting; integrated energy harvesters; microscale device; nanoscale Ge-SiGe heterostructure materials; nanoscale device; power factor; temperature 293 K to 298 K; thermal conductivity; thermoelectric performance; threading dislocation density; Atmospheric measurements; Heating; Particle measurements; Silicon; Substrates;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nanotechnology (IEEE-NANO), 2012 12th IEEE Conference on

Conference_Location

Birmingham

ISSN

1944-9399

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-2198-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NANO.2012.6322044

Filename

6322044