Thermoelectric properties of high quality nanostructured Ge:Mn thin films

Dimitri Tainoff (1) , André Barski (2) , Eric Prestat (2) , Daniel Bourgault (1) , E. Hadji (2) , Yanqing Liu (1) , Pascale Bayle-Guillemaud (2) , Olivier Bourgeois (1)

1 NEEL - TPS - Thermodynamique et biophysique des petits systèmes
2 INAC - Institut Nanosciences et Cryogénie

We report on the elaboration of germanium manganese nanostructured thin films and the measurement of their thermoelectric properties. We investigate the growth of Ge:Mn layers along with a thorough structural characterization of this materials at the nanoscale. The room temperature thermoelectric properties of these layers containing spherical inclusions are discussed regarding their potential as a model of "electron crystal phonon glass material". We show that the thermal conductivity can be decreased by a factor of 30, even if the electronic properties can be conserved as in the bulk. The thermoelectric performance ZT of such material is as high as 0.15 making them a promising thermoelectric p-type material for Ge related application.

Mots clés: molecular beam epitaxy; phonons; thermoelectricity; thermal transport; nanostructure

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Dimitri Tainoff, André Barski, Eric Prestat, Daniel Bourgault, E. Hadji, et al.. Thermoelectric properties of high quality nanostructured Ge:Mn thin films. 2013. ⟨hal-00770723⟩