DOI 10.1007/s10825-010-0339-2 Thermoelectric properties of silicon nanostructures

Abstract Semiconductor nanostructures are promising can-didates for efficient thermoelectric energy conversion, with applications in solid-state refrigeration and power gener-ation. The design of efficient semiconductor thermocou-ples requires a thorough understanding of both charge and heat transport; therefore, thermoelectricity in silicon-based nanostructures requires that both electronic and thermal transport be treated on an equal footing. In this paper, we present semiclassical simulation of carrier and phonon trans-port in ultrathin silicon nanomembranes and gated nanorib-bons. We show that the thermoelectric response of Si-membrane-based nanostructures can be improved by em-ploying the anisotropy of the lattice thermal conductivity, revealed in ultrathin Si due to boundary scattering, or by using a gate to provide additional carrier confinement and enhance the thermoelectric power factor