Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

High Thermoelectric Power Factor and ZT in TbAs:InGaAs Epitaxial Nanocomposite Material

Journal Article · · Advanced Electronic Materials
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [4];  [8];  [9];  [5];  [2];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States); DOE/OSTI
  2. Univ. of Cincinnati, OH (United States)
  3. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States); DuPont Corporate Center for Analytical Sciences, Wilmington, DE (United States)
  4. Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
  5. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  6. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
  7. Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) (Korea). School of Mechanical Engineering
  8. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  9. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Lanthanide monopnictide (Ln-V) nanoparticles embedded within III–V semiconductors, specifically in In0.53Ga0.47As, are interesting for thermoelectric applications. The electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor of co-deposited TbAs:InGaAs over the temperature range of 300–700 K are reported. Using Boltzmann transport theory, it is shown that TbAs nanoparticles in InGaAs matrix give rise to an improved Seebeck coefficient due to an increase in scattering, such as ionized impurity scattering. TbAs nanoparticles act as electron donors in the InGaAs matrix while having minimal effects on electron mobility, and maintain high electrical conductivity. There is further evidence that TbAs nanoparticles act as energy dependent electron scattering sites, contributing to an increased Seebeck coefficient at high temperature. These results show that TbAs:InGaAs nanocomposite thinfilms containing low concentrations, specifically 0.78% TbAs:InGaAs, display high electrical conductivity, reduced thermal conductivity, improved Seebeck coefficient, and demonstrated ZT of power factors as high as 7.1 × 10-3 W K-2 m-1 and ZT as high as 1.6 at 650 K.
Research Organization:
University of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0008166
OSTI ID:
1611024
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1494774
Journal Information:
Advanced Electronic Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Electronic Materials Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 5; ISSN 2199-160X
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (20)

The Role of Ionized Impurity Scattering on the Thermoelectric Performances of Rock Salt AgPb m SnSe 2+ m journal May 2016
Semimetal/Semiconductor Nanocomposites for Thermoelectrics journal April 2011
Power Generator Modules of Segmented Bi2Te3 and ErAs:(InGaAs)1−x (InAlAs) x journal March 2008
Properties of molecular beam epitaxially grown ScAs:InGaAs and ErAs:InGaAs nanocomposites for thermoelectricapplications journal February 2011
Thermoelectric power factor in semiconductors with buried epitaxial semimetallic nanoparticles journal September 2005
Thermoelectric power factor enhancement by ionized nanoparticle scattering journal August 2011
Thermoelectric properties of epitaxial TbAs:InGaAs nanocomposites journal May 2012
Reduced thermal conductivity in Er-doped epitaxial In x Ga 1−x Sb alloys journal September 2013
Determining the band alignment of TbAs:GaAs and TbAs:In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As journal September 2015
Growth and characterization of TbAs films journal November 2016
Demonstration of electron filtering to increase the Seebeck coefficient in In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As ∕ In 0.53 Ga 0.28 Al 0.19 As superlattices journal November 2006
Thermoelectric figure of merit of ( In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As ) 0.8 ( In 0.52 Al 0.48 As ) 0.2 III-V semiconductor alloys journal June 2010
Charge carrier relaxation processes in TbAs nanoinclusions in GaAs measured by optical-pump THz-probe transient absorption spectroscopy journal January 2014
Minority carrier blocking to enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit in narrow-band-gap semiconductors journal April 2016
Improved Thermoelectric Power Factor in Metal-Based Superlattices journal March 2004
Thermal Conductivity Reduction and Thermoelectric Figure of Merit Increase by Embedding Nanoparticles in Crystalline Semiconductors journal February 2006
Growth and characterization of TbAs:GaAs nanocomposites
  • Cassels, Laura E.; Buehl, Trevor E.; Burke, Peter G.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 29, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.3555388
journal May 2011
Thermoelectric properties of single crystal Sc 1−x Er x As:InGaAs nanocomposites
  • Koltun, Rachel; Hall, Jacqueline L.; Mates, Thomas E.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 31, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4810961
journal July 2013
Review Article: Overview of lanthanide pnictide films and nanoparticles epitaxially incorporated into III-V semiconductors
  • Bomberger, Cory C.; Lewis, Matthew R.; Vanderhoef, Laura R.
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 35, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4979347
journal May 2017
Charge Carrier Relaxation Processes in TbAs Nanoinclusions in GaAs Measured By Optical-Pump THz-Probe Transient Absorption Spectroscopy conference January 2014

Cited By (1)

Growth and Thermal Characterization of TbAs Nanoparticles Grown by Inert Gas Condensation journal October 2019

Similar Records

Thermoelectric properties of epitaxial TbAs:InGaAs nanocomposites
Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:22038955
High efficiency semimetal/semiconductor nanocomposite thermoelectric materials
Journal Article · Tue Dec 14 23:00:00 EST 2010 · Journal of Applied Physics · OSTI ID:21537989

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Materials Science
Physics
Science & Technology