Thermal conductivity of indium phosphide based superlattices

Semiconductor superlattice structures have shown promise as thermoelectric materials for their high power factor and low thermal conductivity. Heat conduction by phonons in semiconductor superlattices is controlled by two mechanisms: interface scattering by defects and/or roughness and phonon filtering by Bragg reflection. The thermal conductivity of three different InP/InGaAs superlattices was measured from 77-300 K using the 3/spl omega/ method. Small "dips" in the measured thermal conductivity were observed near 90 K, which may be indicative of phonon filtering.