Thermal characterization of Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattices

Superlattices offer the potential to enhance the figure of merit for thermo electric cooling by increasing the Seebeck coefficient while decreasing the thermal conductivity compared to bulk samples. The large bulk value of ZT makes superlattices containing Bi2Te3 attractive for demonstrating benefits of using low-dimensional materials in thermoelectric applications. The pre sent work describes measurements of the effective thermal conductivity norm al to Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattices deposited on GaAs using noncontact pulsed laser heating and thermoreflectance thermometry. The data show a strong re duction in the effective thermal conductivity of the Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlat tices compared to bulk Bi2Te3, which can further increase thermoelectric fi gure of merit. The dependence of thermal conductivity on superlattice perio d is found to be weak, particularly at periods above 60 Angstrom. This indi cates that disorder in Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattices may limit the heat condu ction process at shorter periods than in Si/Ge superlattices, for which mea surements were previously reported in the literature. (C) 2001 American Ins titute of Physics.