THERMOELECTRIC MATERIAL WITH HIGH CROSS-PLANE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY IN THE PRESENCE OF A POTENTIAL BARRIER
First Claim
1. A thermoelectric material comprising:
- a first matrix material layer;
a barrier layer on the first matrix material layer, the barrier layer having a short-period superlattice structure comprising a plurality of superlattice layers wherein each superlattice layer of the plurality of superlattice layers has at least one characteristic selected from a group consisting of;
a high energy sub-band that is resonant with a low energy sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer in the plurality of superlattice layers and a low energy sub-band that is resonant with a high energy sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer in the plurality of superlattice layers; and
a second matrix material layer on the barrier layer.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of a thermoelectric material having high cross-plane electrical conductivity in the presence of one or more Seebeck coefficient enhancing potential barriers and methods of fabrication thereof are disclosed. In one embodiment, a thermoelectric material includes a first matrix material layer, a barrier layer, and a second matrix material layer. The barrier layer is a short-period superlattice structure that includes multiple superlattice layers. Each superlattice layer has a high energy sub-band and a low energy sub-band. For each superlattice layer, the energy level of the high energy sub-band of the superlattice layer is resonant with the energy level of the low energy level sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer and/or the energy level of the low energy sub-band of the superlattice layer is resonant with the energy level of the high energy sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer. As a result, cross-plane electrical conductivity of the thermoelectric material is improved.
9 Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A thermoelectric material comprising:
-
a first matrix material layer; a barrier layer on the first matrix material layer, the barrier layer having a short-period superlattice structure comprising a plurality of superlattice layers wherein each superlattice layer of the plurality of superlattice layers has at least one characteristic selected from a group consisting of;
a high energy sub-band that is resonant with a low energy sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer in the plurality of superlattice layers and a low energy sub-band that is resonant with a high energy sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer in the plurality of superlattice layers; anda second matrix material layer on the barrier layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method of fabricating a thermoelectric material, comprising:
-
providing a first matrix material layer; providing a barrier layer on the first matrix material layer, the barrier layer having a short-period superlattice structure comprising a plurality of superlattice layers wherein each superlattice layer of the plurality of superlattice layers has at least one characteristic selected from a group consisting of;
a high energy sub-band that is resonant with a low energy sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer in the plurality of superlattice layers and a low energy sub-band that is resonant with a high energy sub-band of an adjacent superlattice layer in the plurality of superlattice layers; andproviding a second matrix material layer on the barrier layer. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method comprising:
-
obtaining measurements for intersubband transition energies for a plurality of samples of a desired material having different quantum well widths; calculating sub-band energies for the plurality of samples of the desired material; generating a representation of theoretical values for sub-band energies for the desired material versus quantum well width based on the sub-band energies calculated for the plurality of samples of the desired material; determining combinations of quantum well widths that provide resonant high energy and low energy sub-bands for adjacent superlattice layers in a barrier layer of a thermoelectric material; and fabricating the thermoelectric material such that the thermoelectric material comprises the barrier layer having the combinations of quantum well widths that provide the resonant high energy and low energy sub-bands.
-
Specification