Thermal conductivity of GaAs/Ge nanostructures

Jia, Roger; Zeng, Lingping; Chen, Gang; Fitzgerald, Eugene A.

doi:10.1063/1.4984957

Title: Thermal conductivity of GaAs/Ge nanostructures

Journal Article · 01 June 2017 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4984957 · OSTI ID:1466226

Jia, Roger ^[1];

^[2]; Chen, Gang ^[2];

^[3]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Superlattices are of great interest as platform materials for thermoelectric technology that are capable of directly converting low-grade heat energy into useful electrical power. In this paper, the thermal conductivities of GaAs/Ge superlattice nanostructures were investigated systematically in relation to their morphologies and interfaces. Thermal conductivities were measured using ultrafast time-domain thermoreflectance and were found to decrease with increasing interface densities, consistent with past understanding of microscopic phonon transport in the particle regime. The lowest thermal conductivities were observed in (GaAs)_0.77(Ge₂)_0.23 alloys, and transmission electron microscopy study reveals phase separation in the alloys. These alloys can be interpreted as fine nanostructures, with length scales comparable to the periods of very thin superlattices. Electrical transport measurements along the film plane direction showed no significant reduction in electrical properties attributable to the interfaces between GaAs and Ge. Finally, our experimental findings help gain fundamental insight into nanoscale thermal transport in superlattices and are also useful for future improvement of thermoelectric performance using nanostructures.

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Research Organization:: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); National Science Foundation (NSF) (United States); National Research Foundation (NRF) (Singapore)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0001299; SC0001299

OSTI ID:: 1466226

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 110; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Luminescence of III-IV-V thin film alloys grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition Jia, Roger; Zhu, Tony; Bulović, Vladimir Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 123, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5016443	journal	May 2018

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
III-V semiconductors
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Title: Thermal conductivity of GaAs/Ge nanostructures

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