The Library
Si 1-xGe x nanowire arrays for thermoelectric power generation
Tools
Xu, B., Li, C., Myronov, Maksym, Durrani, Z. A. K and Fobelets, K. (2012) Si 1-xGe x nanowire arrays for thermoelectric power generation. In: 2012 International Silicon-Germanium Technology and Device Meeting, ISTDM 2012 - Proceedings, Berkeley, CA, USA, 4-6 June 2012. Published in: Silicon-Germanium Technology and Device Meeting (ISTDM), 2012 International Article number 6222465. ISBN 9781457718625. doi:10.1109/ISTDM.2012.6222501
Research output not available from this repository.
Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISTDM.2012.6222465
Abstract
Thermoelectricity offers an excellent clean energy generation opportunity and has attracted renewed attention in the last few decades. The low conversion efficiency and high costs currently limit its practical application. Much effort is still needed to enhance its efficiency and reduce its cost. Nanostructures have been proven to greatly enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) because of increased phonon scattering at the interfaces. It has been demonstrated that single Si nanowires (NWs) exhibit a 60 times higher ZT than Si bulk. Meanwhile, SiGe alloys can also reduce the thermal conductivity via alloy scattering without deteriorating the other performance parameters such as Seebeck coefficient, S and electrical conductivity, . SiGe NWs thus promise to offer even better thermoelectric performance than Si. In this work, we will show our recent research results on the fabrication and thermoelectric characterisation of SiGe nanowire arrays (NWAs). The NWAs are arrays of millions of parallel upstanding NWs attached to Si bulk, rather than single NWs as studied before. A Seebeck coefficient of S 1.1 mV/K is measured for the SiGe NWAs/Si bulk composite and is independent of Ge fraction, consistent with the theoretically expected value. The temperature drop across the SiGe NWA is consistently larger than across a similar Si NWA, indicating reduced thermal conductivity of the SiGe NWs.The use of SiGe improves the output power with a factor of 8 in the bulk TEG configuration. The use of SiGe NWAs in the p-leg only, increases the output power by a factor of 5 in comparison with the Si NWA TEG. These improvements are due to the reduction of the thermal conductance of the SiGe NWs and the reduction of the electrical contact resistance of the SiGe-based wires while the Seebeck coefficient remains unaffected
Item Type: | Conference Item (Paper) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Silicon-Germanium Technology and Device Meeting (ISTDM), 2012 International | ||||
Publisher: | IEEE | ||||
ISBN: | 9781457718625 | ||||
Book Title: | 2012 International Silicon-Germanium Technology and Device Meeting (ISTDM) | ||||
Official Date: | 2012 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Page Range: | Article number 6222465 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1109/ISTDM.2012.6222501 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||
Conference Paper Type: | Paper | ||||
Title of Event: | 2012 International Silicon-Germanium Technology and Device Meeting, ISTDM 2012 - Proceedings | ||||
Type of Event: | Conference | ||||
Location of Event: | Berkeley, CA, USA | ||||
Date(s) of Event: | 4-6 June 2012 |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |