scholarly journals Modeling of Thermoelectric Properties of Semi-Conductor Thin Films With Quantum and Scattering Effects

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bulusu ◽  
D. G. Walker

Several new reduced-scale structures have been proposed to improve thermoelectric properties of materials. In particular, superlattice thin films and wires should decrease the thermal conductivity, due to increased phonon boundary scattering, while increasing the local electron density of states for improved thermopower. The net effect should be increased ZT, the performance metric for thermoelectric structures. Modeling these structures is challenging because quantum effects often have to be combined with noncontinuum effects and because electronic and thermal systems are tightly coupled. The nonequilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) approach, which provides a platform to address both of these difficulties, is used to predict the thermoelectric properties of thin-film structures based on a limited number of fundamental parameters. The model includes quantum effects and electron-phonon scattering. Results indicate a 26–90 % decrease in channel current for the case of near-elastic, phase-breaking, electron-phonon scattering for single phonon energies ranging from 0.2 meV to 60 meV. In addition, the NEGF model is used to assess the effect of temperature on device characteristics of thin-film heterojunctions whose applications include thermoelectric cooling of electronic and optoelectronic systems. Results show the predicted Seebeck coefficient to be similar to measured trends. Although superlattices have been known to show reduced thermal conductivity, results show that the inclusion of scattering effects reduces the electrical conductivity leading to a significant reduction in the power factor (S2σ).

Author(s):  
A. Bulusu ◽  
D. G. Walker

With device dimensions shrinking to nanoscales, quantum effects such as confinement and tunneling become significant in electron transport. In addition, thermal transport in devices is directly coupled to charge transport even in highly scaled devices. While electron-phonon scattering usually helps restore thermodynamic equilibrium, shrinking device dimensions may not ensure enough scattering to restore equilibrium. The simultaneous consideration of scattering effects, which is usually described as particle behavior, and quantum effects, which are wave in nature, is extremely difficult and computationally intensive. Most device transport simulation models are not mature enough to couple quantum effects with strong scattering effects. In this paper, we couple quantum effects and scattering influences on electron transport using the non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism. Results indicate a 45 to 70 percent decrease in channel current for the case of near-elastic, phase-breaking, electron-phonon scattering. The single phonon energies ranged from 2meV to 20meV. The results illustrate the importance of including scattering effects with quantum transport. In addition, the NEGF model is used to assess the effect of temperature on device characteristics of thin film superlattices whose applications include thermoelectric cooling of electronic and optoelectronic systems. Results show the predicted Seebeck coefficient to be in good agreement with the measured values.


Author(s):  
A. Bulusu ◽  
D. G. Walker

As electronic device dimensions shrink down to the nanoscale regime, quantum effects such as electron tunneling and quantum confinement become significant. Along with quantum effects, various scattering processes such as carrier-carrier and carrier-defect scattering will influence device performance. Many transport models are not mature enough to couple the thermal effects with electronic solutions at such small scales. Incorporation of strong scattering influences on the electron transport in most cases is extremely difficult and computationally intensive. In this paper, we study a simple model that allows for integration of electron-phonon scattering effects in a nanotransistor. An acoustic deformation potential based electron-phonon scattering model is used to incorporate scattering in the device. A 7.5% drop in channel current was observed for a scattering rate of 1013/sec while current flow dropped by 50% for higher scattering rates. The effective channel resistance due to scattering was found to increase by a factor of 1.3. The results are compared to the I-V characteristics obtained using the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) formalism and were found to match well. The effect of phase-breaking scattering was also studied using NEGF where a 25% decrease in channel current was obtained thus demonstrating the importance of including scattering effects with quantum transport.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (42) ◽  
pp. 28517-28526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Fu ◽  
Guihua Tang ◽  
Yifei Li

The effect of electron–phonon scattering on the nanoscale thermal transport is investigated systematically in nanowires, solid thin films and nanoporous thin films by considering the phonon–phonon, phonon–boundary and electron–phonon scattering simultaneously.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (02) ◽  
pp. 2050019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Zhang ◽  
M. M. Fan ◽  
C. C. Ruan ◽  
Y. W. Zhang ◽  
X.-J. Li ◽  
...  

[Formula: see text] ceramic samples have a structure similar to phonon glass electronic crystals, and their thermoelectric properties can be effectively adjusted through repeated grinding and sintering. The results show that multi-sintering can make their grain refined and increase their grain boundary, which will effectively increase density and phonon scattering. Finally, multi-sintering can reduce the resistivity and thermal conductivity, thus obviously improve thermoelectric figure of merit [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text]. The optimum [Formula: see text] value of 0.26 is achieved at 923 K by the third sintered sample.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shama ◽  
R. K. Gopal ◽  
Goutam Sheet ◽  
Yogesh Singh

AbstractPd$$_{3}$$ 3 Bi$$_{2}$$ 2 S$$_{2}$$ 2 (PBS) is a recently proposed topological semimetal candidate. However, evidence for topological surface states have not yet been revealed in transport measurements due to the large mobility of bulk carriers. We report the growth and magneto-transport studies of PBS thin films where the mobility of the bulk carriers is reduced by two orders of magnitude, revealing for the first time, contributions from the 2-dimensional (2D) topological surface states in the observation of the 2D weak anti-localization (WAL) effect in magnetic field and angle dependent conductivity measurements. The magnetotransport data is analysed within the 2D Hikami-Larkin-Nagaoka (HLN) theory. The analysis suggests that multiple conduction channels contribute to the transport. It is also found that the temperature dependence of the dephasing length can’t be explained only by electron-electron scattering and that electron-phonon scattering also contributes to the phase relaxation mechanism in PBS films.


2006 ◽  
Vol 326-328 ◽  
pp. 689-692
Author(s):  
Seung Jae Moon

The thermal conductivity of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin films is determined by using the non-intrusive, in-situ optical transmission measurement. The thermal conductivity of a-Si is a key parameter in understanding the mechanism of the recrystallization of polysilicon (p-Si) during the laser annealing process to fabricate the thin film transistors with uniform characteristics which are used as switches in the active matrix liquid crystal displays. Since it is well known that the physical properties are dependent on the process parameters of the thin film deposition process, the thermal conductivity should be measured. The temperature dependence of the film complex refractive index is determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. A nanosecond KrF excimer laser at the wavelength of 248 nm is used to raise the temperature of the thin films without melting of the thin film. In-situ transmission signal is obtained during the heating process. The acquired transmission signal is fitted with predictions obtained by coupling conductive heat transfer with multi-layer thin film optics in the optical transmission measurement.


2011 ◽  
Vol 254 ◽  
pp. 167-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subodh Srivastava ◽  
Sumit Kumar ◽  
Vipin Kumar Jain ◽  
Y.K. Vijay

In the present work we have reported the effect of temperature on the gas sensing properties of pure Polyaniline (PANI) and Multiwall carbon nanotube (MWNT) doped PANI composite thin film based chemiresistor type gas sensors for hydrogen gas sensing application. PANI and MWNT doped PANI composite were synthesized by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline using ammonium persulfate in an acidic medium. The thin sensing film of chemically synthesized PANI and MWNT doped PANI composite were deposited onto finger type Cu-interdigited electrodes using spin cast technique to prepared chemiresistor type gas sensor. The electrical properties of these composite thin films were characterized by I-V measurements as function of temperature. The I-V measurement revealed that conductivity of composite thin films increased as the temperature increased. The changes in resistance of the composite thin film sensor were utilized for detection of hydrogen gas. It was observed that at room temperature, MWNT doped PANI composite sensor shows higher response value and sensitivity with good repeatability in comparison to pure PANI thin film sensor. It was also observed that both PANI and MWNT doped PANI composite thin film based sensors showed unstable behavior as the temperature increased. The surface morphology of these composite thin films has also been characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurement.


Author(s):  
Pornvitoo Rittinon ◽  
Ken Suzuki ◽  
Hideo Miura

Copper thin films are indispensable for the interconnections in the advanced electronic products, such as TSV (Trough Silicon Via), fine bumps, and thin-film interconnections in various devices and interposers. However, it has been reported that both electrical and mechanical properties of the films vary drastically comparing with those of conventional bulk copper. The main reason for the variation can be attributed to the fluctuation of the crystallinity of grain boundaries in the films. Porous or sparse grain boundaries show very high resistivity and brittle fracture characteristic in the films. Thus, the thermal conductivity of the electroplated copper thin films should be varied drastically depending on their micro texture based on the Wiedemann-Franz’s law. Since the copper interconnections are used not only for the electrical conduction but also for the thermal conduction, it is very important to quantitatively evaluate the crystallinity of the polycrystalline thin-film materials and clarify the relationship between the crystallinity and thermal properties of the films. The crystallinity of the interconnections were quantitatively evaluated using an electron back-scatter diffraction method. It was found that the porous grain boundaries which contain a significant amount of vacancies increase the local electrical resistance in the interconnections, and thus, cause the local high Joule heating. Such porous grain boundaries can be eliminated by control the crystallinity of the seed layer material on which the electroplated copper thin film is electroplated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pornsiri Wanarattikan ◽  
Piya Jitthammapirom ◽  
Rachsak Sakdanuphab ◽  
Aparporn Sakulkalavek

In this work, stoichiometric Sb2Te3 thin films with various thicknesses were deposited on a flexible substrate using RF magnetron sputtering. The grain size and thickness effects on the thermoelectric properties, such as the Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical conductivity (σ), power factor (PF), and thermal conductivity (k), were investigated. The results show that the grain size was directly related to film thickness. As the film thickness increased, the grain size also increased. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity corresponded to the grain size of the films. The mean free path of carriers increases as the grain size increases, resulting in a decrease in the Seebeck coefficient and increase in electrical conductivity. Electrical conductivity strongly affects the temperature dependence of PF which results in the highest value of 7.5 × 10−4 W/m·K2 at 250°C for film thickness thicker than 1 µm. In the thermal conductivity mechanism, film thickness affects the dominance of phonons or carriers. For film thicknesses less than 1 µm, the behaviour of the phonons is dominant, while both are dominant for film thicknesses greater than 1 µm. Control of the grain size and film thickness is thus critical for controlling the performance of Sb2Te3 thin films.


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