Temperature Coefficient of Electrical Resistivity in Individual Single-Crystal Bismuth Nanowires

The temperature dependence of electrical resistivity and the crystal orientation of single-crystal bismuth nanowires each encapsulated in a quartz template were studied. The electrical resistivities of four bismuth nanowires with diameter of 356 nm, 376 nm, 622 nm, and 633 nm were measured in the temperature range from 4.2 K to 300 K. The temperature coefficient of resistivity of 376-nm- and 633-nm-diameter nanowires was negative in the low-temperature region. On the other hand, a positive temperature coefficient appeared in 356-nm- and 622-nm-diameter nanowires. The positive temperature coefficient was not explained by carrier mean free path limitation. Thus, the crystal orientation of the bismuth nanowires was observed by x-ray diffraction measurements to study the relationship between electrical resistivity and crystal orientation. It was confirmed that the temperature dependence of electrical resistivity strongly depended on the crystal orientation of the bismuth nanowire.     

Thermoelectric Properties of a 593-nm Individual Bismuth Nanowire Prepared Using a Quartz Template

An individual bismuth nanowire sample, 593 nm in diameter and 1.64 mm in length, has been successfully grown using a quartz template. The resistivity and the Seebeck coefficient of the nanowire at 300 K were 1.35 μΩ m and −59 μV/K, respectively, similar to those of a bismuth bulk sample. The temperature dependence of the resistivity was found to decrease with temperature from 300 K to 175 K and then increase with further temperature reduction below 175 K. The absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient decreased with temperature from 300 K to 90 K, and the sign of the Seebeck coefficient changed from negative to positive near 90 K. This result indicated that there was a small amount of contamination in the bismuth. The carrier density was estimated from the resistivity and Seebeck coefficient on the basis of limitation of the mean free path and a two-carrier model, and the observed temperature dependences are discussed.     

Thermoelectric Properties of Bismuth Micro/Nanowire Array Elements Pressured into a Quartz Template Mold

A quartz template having a length of several millimeters and with holes having diameters on the order of micro/nanometers was fabricated. Bismuth was injected into the template holes by high-pressure injection. A bismuth micro/nanowire array sample was prepared, and the temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient and the resistance were measured in the temperature range of 50 K to 300 K. Although the temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient is similar to that of polycrystalline bulk bismuth, the temperature coefficient of the resistance is much less than that of the bulk sample. The magnetic-field dependence of the Seebeck coefficient was also measured. The Umkehr effect was observed, demonstrating that the mixed micro/nanowires are a bundle of single-crystal wires. The magnitude of the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient was found to be large in high magnetic field and at low temperature.     

Four-Wire Resistance Measurements of a Bismuth Nanowire Encased in a Quartz Template Utilizing Focused Ion Beam Processing

Four-wire resistance measurements were performed using a bismuth nanowire, 750?nm in diameter, 1.96?mm in length, and encapsulated in a quartz template. One side of the quartz template was polished to allow focused ion beam (FIB) processing, and metal film layers were deposited on the polished side to form electrodes. Nanofabrication was employed to remove a selected portion of the quartz, and FIB processing was used to expose the surface of the bismuth nanowire. A local area of the bismuth wire was successfully exposed, and a carbon electrode was deposited on the bismuth wire in?situ by a chemical reaction between the ion beam and phenanthrene gas. Additional carbon deposition on the initial carbon electrode was used to connect to a metal film on the quartz template. In total, four nanofabrications were performed on the bismuth wire to create the desired electrical contacts. The resistivity of the nanowire was measured by a four-wire method to be 1.29??????m at 300?K, corresponding to that of bulk bismuth. The temperature dependence of the resistivity was also measured, and was qualitatively and quantitatively in good agreement with previous calculated and experimental results using other bismuth nanowires. The present results demonstrate the successful development of a technique to fabricate an electrode on a local area of a nanowire using FIB processing to form suitable electrical contacts.     

Thermal Conductivity of an Individual Bismuth Nanowire Covered with a Quartz Template Using a 3-Omega Technique

Thermal conductivity is estimated using a 3-omega technique for an individual bismuth nanowire (diameter: 595 nm, length: 2.24 mm) covered with a quartz template. To evaluate the thermal conductivity of the nanowire, we propose a simple model of thermal and electrical transfer functions for the nanowire that assumes a linear combination of that of the line heater on the substrate and a suspended wire. Since the out-of-phase third-harmonic component of the electrical transfer function depends only on the thermal diffusivity of the nanowire, measurement of the frequency dependence is carried out. A distinct extreme value of the frequency has been observed, as expected, and estimation of the thermal conductivity of the nanowire covered with the quartz is attempted. Although the thermal conductivity at 300 K is 9.8 W/mK, somewhat smaller than that of bulk bismuth, the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity is quite different from that of bulk bismuth, and decreased linearly with decreasing temperature. In particular, this shows that the thermal conductivity obtained is suppressed in the low-temperature region by phonon confinement in the nanowire.     

Electrical Nanocontact Between Bismuth Nanowire Edges and Electrodes

Three methods for attaching electrodes to a bismuth nanowire sample were investigated. In the first and second methods, thin layers of titanium and copper were deposited by ion plating under vacuum onto the edge surface of individual bismuth nanowire samples that were encapsulated in a quartz template. Good electrical contact between the electrodes and the nanowire was achieved using silver epoxy and conventional solder on the thin-film layers in the first and second methods, respectively. In the third method, a low-melting-point solder was utilized and was also successful in achieving good electrical contact in air atmosphere. The connection methods showed no difference in terms of resistivity temperature dependence or Seebeck coefficient. The third method has an advantage in that nanocontact is easily achieved; however, diffusion of the solder into the nanowire allows contamination near the melting point of the solder. In the first and second methods, the thin-film layer enabled electrical contact to be more safely achieved than the direct contact used in the third method, because the thin-film layer prevented diffusion of binder components.     

High Power Factor of HPHT-Sintered GeTe-AgSbTe<Subscript>2</Subscript> Alloys

The thermopower and electrical resistivity of alloys of GeTe and AgSbTe₂ (TAGS) sintered at high pressure (up to 4.5 GPa) and high temperature (HPHT) have been studied from 300 K to 750 K. An apparatus for measuring thermopower and electrical resistivity at temperatures >300 K is described. The linear temperature dependence of thermopower and electrical conductivity indicates that these materials are likely to be degenerate semiconductors. At a sintering pressure of 4.0 GPa, the calculated power factor shows a steady progression, reaching a maximum at a sintering temperature of 800°C, with a subsequent decrease at the highest sintering temperature of 850°C. The maximum power factor of 4.32 × 10⁻³ W m⁻¹ K⁻² at ~675 K is ~25% higher than reported values. These results illustrate that HPHT processing is a feasible and controllable way of tuning the properties of thermoelectric materials.     

Electrical transport properties of single GaN and InN nanowires

The transport properties of single GaN and InN nanowires grown by thermal catalytic chemical vapor deposition were measured as a function of temperature, annealing condition (for GaN) and length/square of radius ratio (for InN). The as-grown GaN nanowires were insulating and exhibited n-type conductivity (n ≈ 2×10¹⁷ cm⁻³, mobility of 30 cm²/V s) after annealing at 700°C. A simple fabrication process for GaN nanowire field-effect transistors on Si substrates was employed to measure the temperature dependence of resistance. The transport was dominated by tunneling in these annealed nanowires. InN nanowires showed resistivity on the order of 4×10⁻⁴ Ω cm and the specific contact resistivity for unalloyed Pd/Ti/Pt/Au ohmic contacts was near 1.09×10⁻⁷ Ω cm². For In N nanowires with diameters <100 nm, the total resistance did not increase linearly with length/square of radius ratio but decreased exponentially, presumably due to more pronounced surface effect. The temperature dependence of resistance showed a positive temperature coefficient and a functional form characteristic of metallic conduction in the InN nanowires.     

Measurements of Microhardness and Thermal and Electrical Properties of the Binary Zn-0.7wt.%Cu Hypoperitectic Alloy

Zn-0.7wt.%Cu hypoperitectic alloys were directionally solidified upwards with different temperature gradients (3.85 K/mm to 9.95 K/mm) at a constant growth rate (0.042 mm/s), and with different growth rates (0.0083 mm/s to 0.436 mm/s) at a constant temperature gradient (3.85 K/mm), using a Bridgman-type growth apparatus. Measurements of microhardness of the directionally solidified samples were carried out. The dependence of micro- hardness (HV) on growth rate (V) and temperature gradient (G) was analyzed. According to these results, it has been found that, for increasing values of G and V, the value of HV increases. Variations of electrical resistivity (ρ) and electrical conductivity (σ) for cast samples with temperature from 300 K to 670 K were also measured by using a standard direct-current (DC) four-point probe technique. The variation of the Lorenz coefficient with temperature for the Zn-0.7wt.%Cu hypoperitectic alloy was determined using the measured values of electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. The enthalpy of fusion for the same alloy was determined by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) from the heating trace during the transformation from liquid to solid.     

Effect of the deposition rate on the phase transition in silver telluride thin films

Silver telluride thin films of thickness 50 nm have been deposited at different deposition rates on glass substrates at room temperature and at a pressure of 2×10⁻⁵ mbar. The electrical resistivity was measured in the temperature range 300–430 K. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistance of Ag₂Te thin films shows structural phase transition and coexistence of low temperature monoclinic phase and high temperature cubic phase. The effect of deposition rate on the phase transition and the electrical resistivity of silver telluride thin films in relation to carrier concentration and mobility are discussed.     

Thermoelectric Properties of the Narrow-Gap Intermetallic Compound Ga<Subscript>2</Subscript>Ru: Effect of Re Substitution for Ru Atoms

In this paper, the effect of hole doping on the thermoelectric properties of the binary narrow-gap semiconducting intermetallic compound Ga₂Ru in the temperature range from 373 K to 973 K was investigated. We synthesized sintered pellets by spark plasma sintering (SPS) after arc-melting and succeeded in preparing crack-free samples. The maximum dimensionless figure of merit ZT _max was 0.50 at 773 K for the sintered Ga₂Ru alloy. The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity and its magnitude at 373 K dramatically changed from negative (~11,000 μΩcm) to positive (~200 μΩcm) upon hole doping by the substitution of Re for Ru atoms. Also, the Seebeck coefficient at 373 K changed from 300 μV/K to 75 μV/K. These changes were identified by the increase in carrier concentrations observed by Hall- effect measurements. In particular, large power factors (2.0 mW/m K² to 3.0 mW/m K²) were obtained over a wide temperature range from 373 K to 973 K upon Re substitution. The lattice thermal conductivity beneficially decreased with increasing Re concentration as a result of an alloying effect.     

Thermoelectric Properties of InSb Nanowires Over a Wide Temperature Range

The thermoelectric power and electrical conductance of bundles of indium antimonide nanowires with a diameter of about 5 nm have been measured over the temperature range of 80 K to 400 K. In the range from 80 K to 300 K, the temperature dependence of the conductance of nanowires is close to power law, while the thermopower increases linearly with temperature. The thermoelectric properties of the nanowires are discussed in terms of the Luttinger liquid theory, taking into account enhancement of the electron–electron interaction in one-dimensional conductors.     

Thermoelectric Properties of NdGd<Subscript>1+<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>S<Subscript>3</Subscript> Prepared by CS<Subscript>2</Subscript> Sulfurization

Ternary rare-earth sulfides NdGd_1+x S₃, where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.08, were prepared by sulfurizing Ln₂O₃ (Ln = Nd, Gd) with CS₂ gas, followed by reaction sintering. The sintered samples have full density and homogeneous compositions. The Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity were measured over the temperature range of 300 K to 950 K. All the sintered samples exhibit a negative Seebeck coefficient. The magnitude of the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical resistivity decrease systematically with increasing Gd content. The thermal conductivity of all the sintered samples is less than 1.9 W K⁻¹ m⁻¹. The highest figure of merit ZT of 0.51 was found in NdGd_1.02S₃ at 950 K.     

The effects of incomplete annealing on the temperature dependence of sheet resistance and gage factor in aluminum and phosphorus implanted silicon on sapphire

The temperature coefficient of resistivity (TCR) of ion implanted silicon can be significantly reduced by partially annealing the crystal damage produced during implantation. The extent to which this method can be used to temperature compensate the resistivity and the gage factor has been determined for 300 ohm-cm silicon on sapphire implanted with either 100 keV Al²⁷ or P³¹ ions. The implantations were made at room temperature parallel to the 〈100〉 axis and in four fluences ranging from 1 × 10¹³cm^?2 to 1·25 × 10¹⁵ cm^?2. Sheet resistance, Hall coefficient, and effective mobility were measured from ?150°C to 150°C for various anneal temperatures. It was possible to obtain very low temperature dependences of sheet resistance at 300°K for all dopant fluences by appropriate partial annealing. On samples having the lowest temperature dependence of sheet resistance, the gage factor was measured from ?75°C to 75°C. The measurements were made along the 〈100〉 direction for phosphorus doped samples, and along the 〈110〉 direction for aluminum doped samples for all four fluences. The gage factor and its temperature dependence for these crystal orientations are not drastically affected by the crystal damage. These results are interpreted in terms of a model previously developed to explain the effect of electron damage on the temperature dependence of the resistivity and the piezoresistance of silicon.     

Spectroscopic studies of optical materials in the far infrared: The case of crystal quartz

Spectroscopic studies using far infrared reflectivity and transmissivity measurements between 10 and 600 cm^?1, were performed on plane parallel quartz crystal plates, in the temperature range 10–300 K. The temperature dependence of the optical mode parameters is reporeted for both polarizations parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis. The extraordinary optical constants of quartz are determined at 10 and 300 K, from the A₂ transmissivity channeled spectrum, between 10 and 300 cm^?1.     

Dependence of Electrical Resistivity on Temperature and Sn Content in Pb-Sn Solders

Pb_(100−x)-Sn _x solders (x = 5 wt.%, 10 wt.%, 20 wt.%, 35 wt.%, 50 wt.%, 60 wt.%, 61.9 wt.%, and 95 wt.%) were directionally solidified upward with a constant growth rate (V = 37.4 μm/s) in a temperature gradient (G = 4.8 K/mm) in a Bridgman-type growth apparatus. The variations of electrical resistivity (ρ) with temperature in the range of 323 K to 423 K for the directionally solidified Pb-Sn solders were measured. The present measurements indicate that the electrical resistivity of the directionally solidified Pb-Sn solders increases with increasing temperature, whereas the resistivity of the Pb-Sn solders decreases with increasing Sn content. The dependency of the Lorenz number (L) on temperature and Sn content for the Pb-Sn solders was also investigated based on the Wiedemann–Franz law by using the measured values of the thermal (K) and electrical (σ) conductivity for the same alloys.     

Effect of the concentration of uncompensated impurities on the properties of CdTe-based X- and γ-ray detectors

Measurements of the ⁵⁵Fe-isotope emission spectra and the photosensitivity of CdTe detectors with a Schottky diode, and also the temperature dependence of the resistivity of a CdTe crystal ((2–3) × 10⁹ Ωcm at 300 K) have been used to determine the concentration of uncompensated donors (1–3) × 10¹² cm⁻³. Similar measurements performed for Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te crystals with the resistivity (3–5) × 10¹⁰ Ω cm at 300 K have shown that the concentration of uncompensated donors in this case is lower by approximately four orders of magnitude. The results of calculations show that, due to such a significant decrease in the concentration of uncompensated donors, the efficiency of X- and γ-ray radiation detection in the photon energy range 59 to 662 keV can decrease by one-three orders of magnitude (depending on the photon energy and the lifetime of charge carriers in the space-charge region). The results obtained account for the apparent poor detecting properties of the Cd_0.9Zn_0.1Te detectors.     

The influence of γ-ray radiation on electrical properties of CuGaSe<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The effect of γ-ray radiation on the conductivity of low-resistivity (10²2–10⁴ Ω cm) and high-resistivity (10⁵–10⁷ Ω cm) CuGaSe₂ single crystals has been studied in the temperature range 77–330 K. It is found that the resistivity of low-resistivity samples increases as the dose of γ-ray radiation is increased, while the resistivity of high-resistivity samples is practically independent of the radiation dose. It is assumed that a decrease in the conductivity of the low-resistivity samples occurs owing to scattering of free charge carriers at defects (charged centers) formed as a result of irradiation with γ-ray photons. It is found that the dose of the γ-ray irradiation does not affect the temperature dependence of resistivity in the low- and high-resistivity samples in the temperature range 77–300 K.     

Electrical Conductivity of Graphene Composites with In and In-Ga Alloy

Samples of composites of graphene with indium or indium-gallium alloy as the matrix were prepared by a process of spreading exfoliated graphene oxide on the foils, repeatedly folding and rolling. The foils were intermittently annealed and the process repeated by addition of more graphene oxide. Indium flux was used to remove any indium or gallium oxide. The samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction, and optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrical resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) were measured using a four-probe method in the temperature range of 260 K to 340 K, and the results were used to determine the volume fraction of graphene from effective mean-field analysis. The volume fraction of graphene remained between 0.11 and 0.14 in samples of In with graphene and between 0.12 and 0.13 in samples of In-Ga with graphene. The results indicate that the electrical resistivity and the TCR of the composite were reduced by the addition of graphene. The resistivity of graphene remained between 1.19 × 10⁻⁶ ohm cm and 1.87 × 10⁻⁶ ohm cm in all samples and was thus almost independent of the matrix composition. The electrical resistivity of graphene was found to be an order of magnitude smaller than that of indium or the indium-gallium alloy.     

Microstructure,Phase Transition,and Piezoelectric Properties of Cerium-Substituted Bismuth Titanate Nanofibers

Cerium-substituted bismuth titanate (BCT) nanofibers were synthesized using sol–gel-based electrospinning. The morphology, crystallized phase, and crystal structure of the nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. Fine-crystallinity nanofibers with diameters in the range of 100 nm to 200 nm and length over 100 μm after annealing at 750°C for 1 h were obtained. The phase transition of the BCT nanofibers was investigated by thermal analysis, and the Curie temperature was found to be 540°C. A displacement–voltage “butterfly” curve with displacement maximum of 1.1 nm was observed by piezoresponse force microscopy, and the maximum value of the piezoelectric coefficient was up to 158 pm/V, being attributed to successful Ce co-substitution for both A- and B-sites based on Raman spectrum analysis.