Epitaxial SiGeSn alloys for CMOS-compatible thermoelectric devices

Summary

arXiv:2608.03638v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The integration of thermoelectric devices into mainstream microelectronic technological platform could be a major breakthrough in various fields within the \emph{so-called} Green-IT realm. In this article, the thermoelectric properties of heteroepitaxial SiGeSn alloys, a novel CMOS compatible material system, are evaluated to assess their possible application in thermoelectric devices. To this purpose, starting from the experimentally low lattice thermal conductivity of SiGeSn/Ge/Si layers of about $\sim$1-2 W/m$\cdot$K assessed by means of 3-$\omega$ measurements, the figure of merits are calculated through the use of Boltzmann transport equation, taking into account the relevant inter-valley scattering processes, peculiar of this multi-valley material system.