Electron Diffusion and Phonon Drag Thermopower in Silicon Nanowires

Abstract

The field of thermoelectric research has undergone a renaissance and boom in the fast two decades, largely fueled by the prospect of engineering electronic and phononic properties in nanostructures, among which semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have served both as an important platform to investigate fundamental thermoelectric transport phenomena and as a promising route for high thermoelectric performance for device applications. In this report we theoretical studied the carrier diffusion and phonon-drag contribution to thermoelectric performance of silicon nanowires and compared with the existing experimental data. We observed a good agreement between theoretical data and experimental observations in the overall temperature range from 50 – 350 K. Electron diffusion thermopower is found to be dominant mechanism in the low temperature range and shows linear dependence with temperature.