Quantum Effects in the Thermoelectric Power Factor of Low-Dimensional Semiconductors
Name
PhysRevLett.117.036602.pdf
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252.49 KB
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Hung, Nguyen T.
Hasdeo, Eddwi H.
Nugraha, Ahmad R. T.
Saito, Riichiro
Dresselhaus, Mildred
Date Issued
July 2016
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Hung, Nguyen T.; Hasdeo, Eddwi H.; Nugraha, Ahmad R. T.; Dresselhaus, Mildred S. and Saito, Riichiro. "Quantum Effects in the Thermoelectric Power Factor of Low-Dimensional Semiconductors." Physical Review Letters 117 036602 (July 2016): 1-5 © 2016 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We theoretically investigate the interplay between the confinement length L and the thermal de Broglie wavelength Λ to optimize the thermoelectric power factor of semiconducting materials. An analytical formula for the power factor is derived based on the one-band model assuming nondegenerate semiconductors to describe quantum effects on the power factor of the low-dimensional semiconductors. The power factor is enhanced for one- and two-dimensional semiconductors when L is smaller than Λ of the semiconductors. In this case, the low-dimensional semiconductors having L smaller than their Λ will give a better thermoelectric performance compared to their bulk counterpart. On the other hand, when L is larger than Λ, bulk semiconductors may give a higher power factor compared to the lower dimensional ones.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.036602
