Improvement in thermoelectric properties of n-type Si95Ge5 alloys by heavy multi-dopants

Efforts to improve the thermoelectric efficiency of silicon–germanium alloys are discussed. These efforts are essentially focused on substantially enhancing carrier concentration levels and thus increasing the values of the power factor and the figure of merit of n-type Si95Ge5 alloys materials. A combination of (P + GaP) multi-dopants is used for this purpose. Very high carrier concentration levels and high electrical power factors were obtained in hot isostatically pressed materials. The good overall understanding of doping mechanisms which has been achieved should enable optimization of the thermoelectric properties over this extended carrier concentration range.