SiGe nanowires for thermoelectric applications

The possibility to reduce the thermal conductivity leaving essentially unaltered the electron transport makes semiconducting nanowires ideal materials for the engineering of high-efficiency thermoelectric devices. A simple and appealing route to achieve these goals is bringing together Si and Ge, giving rise to Si1 x Gex alloy nanowires with tunable Ge concentration, core–shell structures and multiple axial junctions, i.e. superlattices. In this chapter we review the most recent pro- gresses in this field