High Thermoelectric Power Factor of High‐Mobility 2D Electron Gas

Thermoelectric conversion is an energy harvesting technology that directly converts waste heat from various sources into electricity by the Seebeck effect of thermoelectric materials with a large thermopower (S), high electrical conductivity (σ), and low thermal conductivity (κ). State-of-the-art nanostructuring techniques that significantly reduce κ have realized high-performance thermoelectric materials with a figure of merit (ZT = S2∙σ∙T∙κ-1) between 1.5 and 2. Although the power factor (PF = S2∙σ) must also be enhanced to further improve ZT, the maximum PF remains near 1.5-4 mW m-1 K-2 due to the well-known trade-off relationship between S and σ. At a maximized PF, σ is much lower than the ideal value since impurity doping suppresses the carrier mobility. A metal-oxide-semiconductor high electron mobility transistor (MOS-HEMT) structure on an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure is prepared. Applying a gate electric field to the MOS-HEMT simultaneously modulates S and σ of the high-mobility electron gas from -490 µV K-1 and ≈10-1 S cm-1 to -90 µV K-1 and ≈104 S cm-1, while maintaining a high carrier mobility (≈1500 cm2 V-1 s-1). The maximized PF of the high-mobility electron gas is ≈9 mW m-1 K-2, which is a two- to sixfold increase compared to state-of-the-art practical thermoelectric materials.