Strain tuned thermal conductivity reduction in Indium Arsenide (InAs) – A first-principles study

Abstract

Indium based semiconductors are promising materials for thermoelectric devices. Efficiency of a thermoelectric material can be improved by minimizing the lattice thermal conductivity (k). Using first-principles calculations, we report ~20% reduction in in-plane thermal conductivity of Indium arsenide (InAs) with 3% biaxial compressive strain. At 300 K, the bulk thermal conductivity of 33.85 Wm−1K−1 computed for unstrained indium arsenide (InAs) is reduced to 27 Wm−1K−1 for the 3% biaxially strained InAs. Systematic analysis of the effect of applied biaxial strain on phonon group velocities and phonon scattering rates of longitudinal (LA) and transverse (TA) acoustic phonon modes is carried out. Our results shed a light on modulating thermal conductivity of materials through biaxial strain.