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C1: Waste heat recovery

High Energy Radiation Effects on the Thermoelectric Properties of  SiO2/SiO2+Ge Nanolayered Thermoelectric Generators

S. Budak1, J. Lassiter2, T. Colon2, C. Muntele3, S. Bhattacharjee4, M. A. Alim1, R. B. Johnson2
1EECS,AAMU, Huntsville, AL USA; 2Physics, AAMU, Huntsville, AL USA; 3Cygnus Scientific Services, Huntsville, AL, USA; 4MECE, AAMU, Huntsville, AL USA

Thermoelectric devices were fabricated from 100 alternating layers of SiO2/SiO2+Ge superlattice films using Magnetron DC/RF Sputtering. Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) and RUMP simulation software package were used to determine the stoichiometry of Si and Ge in the grown multilayer films and the thickness of the grown multilayer films. SEM and EDS have been used to analyze the surface and composition of the thin films. The 5 MeV Si ion bombardments have been performed using the AAMU Pelletron ion beam accelerator, to make quantum clusters in the multi-layer superlattice thin films to decrease the cross plane thermal conductivity, increase the cross plane Seebeck coefficient and increase the cross plane electrical conductivity to increase the figure of merit. We will be showing our findings.

 Keywords: Ion bombardment, thermoelectric properties, multi-nanolayers, figure of merit.

*Corresponding author:

S. Budak; Tel.: 256-372-5894; Fax: 256-372-5855; Email: satilmis.budak@aamu.edu

 Acknowledgement

Research sponsored by the Center for Irradiation of Materials (CIM),  National Science Foundation under NSF-EPSCOR R-II-3 Grant No. EPS-1158862, DOD under Nanotechnology Infrastructure Development for Education and Research through the Army Research Office # W911 NF-08-1-0425, and DOD Army Research Office # W911 NF-12-1-0063 and National Nuclear Security Admin (DOE/NNSA/MB-40) with grant# DE-NA0001896, NSF-REU with Award#1156137.