Realizing High Thermoelectric Performance at Ambient Temperature by Ternary Alloying in Polycrystalline Si1-x-yGexSny Thin Films with Boron Ion Implantation

Abstract

The interest in thermoelectrics (TE) for an electrical output power by converting any kind of heat has flourished in recent years, but questions about the efficiency at the ambient temperature and safety remain unanswered. With the possibility of integration in the technology of semiconductors based on silicon, highly harvested power density, abundant on earth, nontoxicity, and cost-efficiency, Si1-x-yGexSny ternary alloy film has been investigated to highlight its efficiency through ion implantation and high-temperature rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Significant improvement of the ambient-temperature TE performance has been achieved in a boron-implanted Si0.864Ge0.108Sn0.028 thin film after a short time RTA process at 1100 °C for 15 seconds, the power factor achieves to 11.3 μWcm−1 K−2 at room temperature. The introduction of Sn into Si1-xGex dose not only significantly improve the conductivity of Si1-xGex thermoelectric materials but also achieves a relatively high Seebeck coefficient at room temperature. This work manifests emerging opportunities for modulation Si integration thermoelectrics as wearable devices charger by body temperature.

Constructed Ge Quantum Dots and Sn Precipitate SiGeSn Hybrid Film with High Thermoelectric Performance at Low Temperature Region

“…We previously reported precipitation of Sn particles in SiGeSn films can significantly improve the carrier concentration and mobility, thus greatly enhancing the TE performance under room temperature. [ 38 ] In this work, we measured the Hall mobility and carrier concentration of the samples at room temperature to examine the effect of Sn particles on the electron‐transport property. In Figure 4 a, the carrier concentrations of all samples were higher than the designed value (4 × 10 20 cm −3 ) while the mobilities of all the samples were almost similar.…”

Strategy of extra Zr doping on the enhancement of thermoelectric performance for TiZrxNiSn synthesized by a modified solid-state reaction

“…3 Figure 4a plots the temperature-dependent n of the samples TiZr x NiSn (x = 0, 0.005, 0.015, 0.025), which shows a decrease trend with the increase of Zr content. It is demonstrated that the impurity of residul elemental Sn could increase the n in TiNiSn [15,31].Conversely, the residual Sn in TiNiSn is diminished with the increase of Zr content (Fig. 1b), which could contribute a decrease in the n.…”

The Effect of B, Al, N, and P Impurities on the Electronic Structure of Si0.3Sn0.7Ge alloy: A First-Principles Approach

“…SiGe-based alloys are a promising material for thermoelectric devices such as a micro-energy generator for wearable and portable electronics (Peng et al, 2019;Francioso et al, 2011). SiGe compounds have the advantage of being widely available, inexpensive, and non-toxic.…”