Significant Phonon Drag Enables High Power Factor in the AlGaN/GaN Two-Dimensional Electron Gas.
Nano Lett
; 19(6): 3770-3776, 2019 06 12.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31088057
ABSTRACT
In typical thermoelectric energy harvesters and sensors, the Seebeck effect is caused by diffusion of electrons or holes in a temperature gradient. However, the Seebeck effect can also have a phonon drag component, due to momentum exchange between charge carriers and lattice phonons, which is more difficult to quantify. Here, we present the first study of phonon drag in the AlGaN/GaN two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). We find that phonon drag does not contribute significantly to the thermoelectric behavior of devices with â¼100 nm GaN thickness, which suppresses the phonon mean free path. However, when the thickness is increased to â¼1.2 µm, up to 32% (88%) of the Seebeck coefficient at 300 K (50 K) can be attributed to the drag component. In turn, the phonon drag enables state-of-the-art thermoelectric power factor in the thicker GaN film, up to â¼40 mW m-1 K-2 at 50 K. By measuring the thermal conductivity of these AlGaN/GaN films, we show that the magnitude of the phonon drag can increase even when the thermal conductivity decreases. Decoupling of thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient could enable important advancements in thermoelectric power conversion with devices based on 2DEGs.
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Colección:
01-internacional
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MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nano Lett
Año:
2019
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Article