DOI: 10.1126/science.1091600. Profiling the Thermoelectric Power of Semiconductor Junctions with Nanometer Resolution

Profiling the Thermoelectric Power of Semiconductor Junctions with Nanometer Resolution

10.1126/science.1091600

Crossref journal-article

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Science (221)

Abstract

We have probed the local thermoelectric power of semiconductor nanostructures with the use of ultrahigh-vacuum scanning thermoelectric microscopy. When applied to a p-n junction, this method reveals that the thermoelectric power changes its sign abruptly within 2 nanometers across the junction. Because thermoelectric power correlates with electronic structure, we can profile with nanometer spatial resolution the thermoelectric power, band structures, and carrier concentrations of semiconductor junctions that constitute the building blocks of thermoelectric, electronic, and optoelectronic devices.

Bibliography

Lyeo, H.-K., Khajetoorians, A. A., Shi, L., Pipe, K. P., Ram, R. J., Shakouri, A., & Shih, C. K. (2004). Profiling the Thermoelectric Power of Semiconductor Junctions with Nanometer Resolution. Science, 303(5659), 816â818.

Authors 7

Ho-Ki Lyeo (first)
A. A. Khajetoorians (additional)
Li Shi (additional)
Kevin P. Pipe (additional)
Rajeev J. Ram (additional)
Ali Shakouri (additional)
C. K. Shih (additional)

References 22 Referenced 157

10.1063/1.881959
10.1126/science.285.5428.703
H. Edwards, Q. Niu, A. de Lozanne, in Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, J. G. Webster, Ed. (Wiley, New York, 1999), vol. 22, pp. 80–90. / Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (1999)
10.1103/PhysRevB.47.12727
10.1103/PhysRevB.47.16631
10.1038/35098012
10.1126/science.1072886
P. de Wolf, R. Stephenson, T. Trenkler, T. Hantschel, W. Vandervorst, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B18, 361 (2000). / J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B (2000)
10.1038/344317a0
10.1021/la00007a058
See supporting data on Science Online.
10.1116/1.586959
10.1116/1.587218
10.1103/PhysRevB.67.165307
10.1103/PhysRevB.66.125316
10.1063/1.341225
10.1063/1.1521251
For a planar junction the depletion width ( W ) is related to the barrier height (φ) as W = (2φϵ s / e 2 N ) 1/2 where ϵ s is the dielectric constant and N is the doping density. For a point contact of a hemispherical contact area with a radius of a o we obtain the radius of hemispherical depletion zone as r o ≈ (3 a o ϵ s φ/ e 2 N ) 1/3 provided that a o ≪ r o . Using a o = 1 nm φ = 0.5 eV and N = 10 19 /cm 3 we find that r o ∼ 5 nm. Note that in the derivation we assume a uniform and continuous charge distribution. However r o is now very close to the average interdopant spacing and one expects that this assumption breaks down. Nonetheless on the basis of the qualitative scaling behavior one can still conclude that r o < W .
10.1103/PhysRevLett.56.1086
10.1103/PhysRevLett.57.1374
10.1103/PhysRevB.46.9511
Supported by NSF grants DMR-0210383 DMR-0306239 and CTS-0239179 and by the Texas Advanced Technology Program. L.S. thanks U. Ghoshal for helpful discussions on SThEM.

Dates

Type	When
Created	21 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 5, 2004, 4:58 p.m.)
Deposited	1 year, 7 months ago (Jan. 9, 2024, 10:06 p.m.)
Indexed	3 months, 2 weeks ago (May 13, 2025, 8:09 p.m.)
Issued	21 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 6, 2004)
Published	21 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 6, 2004)
Published Print	21 years, 6 months ago (Feb. 6, 2004)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Lyeo_2004, title={Profiling the Thermoelectric Power of Semiconductor Junctions with Nanometer Resolution}, volume={303}, ISSN={1095-9203}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1091600}, DOI={10.1126/science.1091600}, number={5659}, journal={Science}, publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}, author={Lyeo, Ho-Ki and Khajetoorians, A. A. and Shi, Li and Pipe, Kevin P. and Ram, Rajeev J. and Shakouri, Ali and Shih, C. K.}, year={2004}, month=feb, pages={816–818} }

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