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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. B » Volume 53 » Issue 16
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Phys. Rev. B 53, R10493–R10496 (1996)

Experimental study of the effect of quantum-well structures on the thermoelectric figure of merit

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L. D. Hicks
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

T. C. Harman
Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lexington, Massachusetts 02173-9108

X. Sun
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

M. S. Dresselhaus
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Received 11 January 1996; published in the issue dated 15 April 1996

Recently, it has been shown theoretically that it may be possible to increase the thermoelectric figure of merit (Z) of certain materials by preparing them in the form of two-dimensional quantum-well structures. Using PbTe/Pb1-xEuxTe multiple-quantum-well structures grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, we have performed thermoelectric and other transport measurements as a function of quantum-well thickness and doping. Our results are found to be consistent with theoretical predictions and indicate that an increase in Z over bulk values may be possible through quantum confinement effects using quantum-well structures.

© 1996 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.53.R10493
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevB.53.R10493
PACS:
 
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