Impacts of Short-range Order on Thermal conductivity of Si-Ge-Sn Alloys

Si-Ge-Sn alloys are silicon-based, versatile materials for electronic, photonic, and topological quantum applications. Thermal management in such applications is an important issue but has not been well addressed. As our recent studies^1-3 predicted the complex short-range order behaviors in Si-Ge-Sn alloys, it remains to be understood how thermal transport is affected by the non-random distribution of alloying elements. Here, by computing lattice thermal conductivity from first-principles calculations, we find that the thermal conductivity of Si-Ge-Sn alloys shows strong variation with atomic ordering. The underlying mechanisms are explored and discussed. Our preliminary results suggest that short-range order may provide a new route for engineering the thermal properties of Group IV alloys.

1. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 12, 57245 (2020)

2. Phys Rev Mater 5, 104606 (2021)

3. Communs Mater 3, 66 (2022)