Atomistic study of heat transport in SiGe alloys

ORAL

Abstract

Semiconductor alloys, e.g. SiGe, are considered as promising materials to build efficient thermoelectric devices [1], and atomistic modeling of heat transport in these systems may help complement and guide experiments in optimizing their efficiency. We analyze strengths and weaknesses of several atomistic approaches in modeling the thermal conductivity of SiGe alloys, and we analyze in detail their range of validity. In particular, we focus on equilibrium molecular dynamics [2], an approach based on the solution of the Boltzmann transport equation [3] and Green function techniques [4]. Applications to both bulk and nanostructured SiGe will be presented. \\[4pt] [1] A. J. Minnich, M. S. Dresselhaus, Z. F. Ren, and G. Chen, Energy Environ. Sci. 2, 466 (2009). [2] See e.g. D. Donadio and G. Galli, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 195901 (2009); Nano Lett. 10, 847 (2010). [3] See e.g. J. E. Turney, E. S. Landry, A. J. J. McGaughey, and C. H. Amon, Phys. Rev. B, 79, 064301 (2009). [4] See e.g. I. Savic, N. Mingo, and D. A. Stewart, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 165502 (2008).

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Authors

  • Ivana Savic

    Department of Chemistry, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, USA

  • Yuping He

    Department of Chemistry, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, USA

  • Davide Donadio

    Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, MPI for Polymer Research; Department of Chemistry UC Davis

  • Giulia Galli

    University of California, Davis, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, USA, Department of Chemistry \& Department of Physics, Unversity of California, Davis, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics, UC Davis, UC Davis, University of California-Davis, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, Univeristy of California, Davis, University of California Davis, Davis, CA95616, University of California, Davis, USA