Abstract
The thermoelectric figure of merit of structures with multiple quantum wells (MQWs) was calculated taking into account the variations in the relaxation time of charge carriers compared to that in a bulk sample. The mechanisms of scattering by acoustic phonons, at the short-range impurity potential, and the polar scattering in the approximation of the isotropic parabolic dispersion law of the charge carriers were taken into account. The model used is based on the assumption that the phonon spectrum in the MQW structures is no different from the spectrum of the bulk crystal. In addition, the scattering is assumed to be elastic and the relaxation-time approximation was used for all three mechanisms of scattering. A comparison with the results of calculations for a bulk sample shows that the expression for thermoelectric figure of merit is exactly the same for a MQW structure as for a bulk sample if the decrease in the charge-carrier relaxation time in MQW structures is taken into account. The magnitude of the figure of merit for a MQW structure is found to be equal to that for a bulk sample if the chemical potential in each of the cases is chosen from the condition for the highest figure of merit.
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Translated from Fizika i Tekhnika Poluprovodnikov, Vol. 36, No. 8, 2002, pp. 974–980.
Original Russian Text Copyright © 2002 by Pshena\(\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\smile}$}}{l} \)-Severin, Ravich.
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Pshenai-Severin, D.A., Ravich, Y.I. Calculations of the charge-carrier mobility and the thermoelectric figure of merit for multiple-quantum-well structures. Semiconductors 36, 908–915 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1500470
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/1.1500470