Title :
Update on thermal diodes
Author :
Kucherov, Yan ; Hagelstein, Peter L. ; Sevastyanenko, Victor ; Guruswamy, Sivaraman ; Brown, Harold L. ; Thimmegowda, Deepak
Author_Institution :
Eneco Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Abstract :
Experiments on thermal diodes in InSb constructed with a p-type blocking layer in an n*pn structure have shown the existence of an optimum in acceptor concentration and width. Results for various potential barrier shapes show that triangle-shaped barriers outperform barriers with rectangular shape. Enhancements have been demonstrated in PbTe thermal diodes. In InSb and in PbTe diodes, the optimum width is on the order of the scattering length, which is different in the two semiconductors by an order of magnitude.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; IV-VI semiconductors; impurity states; indium compounds; lead compounds; semiconductor diodes; thermoelectric devices; InSb; PbTe; acceptor concentration; acceptor width; n*pn structure; optimum width; p-type blocking layer; potential barrier shapes; scattering length; thermal diodes; triangle-shaped barriers; Cities and towns; Conductivity; Proposals; Scattering; Semiconductor diodes; Shape; Short circuit currents; Thermoelectric devices; Thermoelectricity; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Thermoelectrics, 2005. ICT 2005. 24th International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9552-2
DOI :
10.1109/ICT.2005.1519886
