Temperature distribution analysis of silicon nanowire for thermoelectric applications

Silicon has been considered as an impropriate material for the thermoelectric applications due to its high thermal conductivity. Recently, it has been reported that even though bulk silicon is a poor thermoelectric material, nanostructured silicon has the possibility to be a good one due to the strong suppression of phonon propagation. In our study, test structures were devised and fabricated for the characterization of thermoelectricity in nanowire structured thermoelectric devices. The temperature gradient was induced by micro-heater for the evaluation of Seebeck coefficients and the temperature measurement of hot and cold sides were done by micro-temperature sensors, installed on a test structure, respectively. In addition, temperature distribution along the nanowire was measured by Scanning Thermal Microscopy and compared with simulated results.