Thermal Conductivity of N-Type Si-Ge
ABSTRACTThe lattice thermal conductivity of 80-20 Si-Ge is treated theoretically for the case of the Fermi energy positioned for optimum figure of merit. The spectral distribution of the lattice conductivity is limited by anharmonic interactions, by the randomness of the Si-Ge lattice and, at low frequencies, by the interaction with free carriers and neutral donors. The two latter processes dominate over grain boundary scattering. The spectral conductivity is sharply peaked around 0.1 of the Debye frequency. A further reduction in lattice conductivity can be obtained by small insulating inclusions. This is partially offset by a reduction in electronic conductivity, but results in some improvement in the figure of merit.