Superlattice multinanolayered thin films of SiO ₂ /SiO ₂ + Ge for thermoelectric device applications

Thermoelectric generators convert heat to electricity. Effective thermoelectric materials and devices have a low thermal conductivity and a high electrical conductivity. The performance of thermoelectric materials and devices is shown by a dimensionless figure of merit, ZT = S ² σT/ K, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, σ is the electrical conductivity, T is the absolute temperature, and K is the thermal conductivity. We have prepared 100 alternating layers of SiO ₂ /SiO ₂ + Ge superlattice thin films using ion beam–assisted deposition for the thermoelectric generator device application. The 5 MeV Si ion bombardments were performed using the Center for Irradiation Materials’ Pelletron ion beam accelerator to form quantum dots and/or quantum clusters in the multinanolayer superlattice thin films to decrease the cross-plane thermal conductivity and increase the cross-plane Seebeck coefficient and cross-plane electrical conductivity. The thermoelectric and transport properties have been characterized for SiO ₂ /SiO ₂ + Ge superlattice thin films.