Room-temperature thermoelectric properties of GaN thin films grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

The GaN thin films with different doping concentrations are grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Carrier concentrations, mobilities and Seebeck coefficients of the GaN thin films are measured by Hall and Seebeck system at room temperature. The power factor and the thermoelectric figure of merit are calculated by experimental and theoretical data. The mobility and Seebeck coefficient of GaN thin film decrease with the increase of carrier concentration. The conductivity of GaN thin film increases with the increase of carrier concentration. The Seebeck coefficient of GaN thin film varies from 100 to 500 μV/K, depending on carrier concentration. The highest power factor is 4.72×10-4 W/mK2 when the carrier concentration is 1.60×1018 cm-3. The thermal conductivity of GaN thin film decreases with the increase of carrier concentration due to the increase of phonon scattering. The largest thermoelectric figure of merit of the GaN thin film at room temperature is 0.0025 when the carrier concentration is 1.60×1018 cm-3.