Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T20:46:19.211Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Thermoelectric Properties of Silicon Nanowire Array and Spin-on Glass Composites Fabricated with CMOS-compatible Techniques

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 February 2012

Benjamin M. Curtin  and
John E. Bowers
Benjamin M. Curtin
Affiliation:
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
John E. Bowers
Affiliation:
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Get access

Abstract

Silicon nanowires (NWs) are promising thermoelectric materials as they offer large reductions in thermal conductivity over bulk Si without a significant decrease in the Seebeck coefficient or electrical conductivity. In this work, interference lithography was used to pattern a square lattice photoresist template over 2 cm x 2 cm Si substrates. The resulting vertical Si NW arrays were 1 μm tall with a packing density of ~15%, and the diameter of the Si NWs were 80 - 90 nm. The Si NW arrays were then embedded in spin-on glass (SOG) to form a dense composite material with a measured thermal conductivity of 1.45 W/m-K at 300 K. Devices were fabricated for cross-plane Seebeck coefficient measurements and the Si NW/SOG composite was found to have a Seebeck coefficient of roughly -284 μV/K, which is similar to bulk Si with the same doping. We also report a combined power generation of 29.3 μW from both the Si NW array and Si substrate with a temperature difference of 56 K and 50 μm x 50 μm device area.

Keywords

thermoelectricSinanostructure
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1408: Symposium BB – Functional Nanowires and Nanotubes , 2012 , mrsf11-1408-bb11-02
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Hochbaum, A. I. et al. ., “Enhanced thermoelectric performance of rough silicon nanowires,” Nature 451 (7175), 163-167 (2008).Google Scholar
[2] Hopkins, P. E. et al. ., “Reduction in the Thermal Conductivity of Single Crystalline Silicon by Phononic Crystal Patterning,” Nano Lett. 11 (1), 107-112 (2010).Google Scholar
[3] Bux, S. K. et al. ., “Nanostructured Bulk Silicon as an Effective Thermoelectric Material,” Adv. Funct. Mater. 19 (15), 2445-2452 (2009).Google Scholar
[4] Tang, J. et al. ., “Holey silicon as an efficient thermoelectric material,” Nano Lett. 10 (10), 4279–4283 (2010).Google Scholar
[5] Persson, A. I. et al. ., “The fabrication of dense and uniform InAs nanowire arrays,” Nanotechnology 20 (22), 225304 (2009).Google Scholar
[6] Dávila, D. et al. ., “Planar Thermoelectric Microgenerators Based on Silicon Nanowires,” J. Electron. Mater. 40 (5), 851-855 (2011).Google Scholar
[7] Li, Y. et al. ., “Chip-Level Thermoelectric Power Generators Based on High-Density Silicon Nanowire Array Prepared With Top-Down CMOS Technology,” IEEE Electron Device Lett. 32 (5), 674-676 (2011).Google Scholar
[8] Biswas, K. G. et al. ., “Thermal conductivity of bismuth telluride nanowire array-epoxy composite,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 94 (22), 223116 (2009).Google Scholar
[9] Hung, Y. J. et al. ., “Fabrication of Highly Ordered Silicon Nanowire Arrays With Controllable Sidewall Profiles for Achieving Low-Surface Reflection,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 17 (4), 869-877 (2010).Google Scholar
[10] Cahill, D. G., Katiyar, M., and Abelson, J. R., “Thermal conductivity of a-Si:H thin films,” Phys. Rev. B 50 (9), 6077 (1994).Google Scholar
[11] Persson, A. I. et al. ., “Thermal conductance of InAs nanowire composites.,” Nano Lett. 9 (12), 4484-4488 (2009).Google Scholar
[12] Geballe, T. and Hull, G., “Seebeck effect in silicon,” Phys. Rev. 98 (4), 940-947 (1955).Google Scholar