SBIR Phase I: Epitaxially Grown GaSb Thin Films on GaAs Substrates For Near-Field Conversion of Heat to Electricity

SBIR 第一阶段：在 GaAs 衬底上外延生长 GaSb 薄膜，用于近场热电转换

• 批准号: 1113125
• 负责人: Jose Borrego
• 金额: $ 14.98万
• 依托单位: MTPV LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-07-01 至 2012-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1113125&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Epitaxially; Grown; GaSb

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop strain-relieved GaSb thin films grown directly on GaAs for near-field thermophotovoltaic (TPV) devices. Thin films of direct low-bandgap materials will outperform germanium, an indirect bandgap material, in both power density and efficiency. In this project, TPV devices will be fabricated and tested in the near-field using thin films of GaSb grown directly on GaAs via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). It has been shown that the well-behaved 90-degree misfit dislocations at the heterojunction result in strain-relieved, low defect density thin films of GaSb grown on relatively inexpensive GaAs substrates. These substrates also have the optical and electrical properties required for fabrication of monolithically integrated TPV devices that are compatible with operation in the near-field of a hot thermal radiator.The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to provide an economically viable solution in waste heat harvesting. Of all power produced in the world, over half is rejected in the form of waste heat. This has led research teams worldwide to search for solid state solutions to waste heat recovery, but with very limited success. This project will develop the TPV devices, and demonstrate that their operation in the near field of hot objects may lead to more than a tenfold increase in power density over existing technologies. This technology is expected to be used for industrial waste heat, methane flaring, solar, vehicle power, satellite power, and personal portable power applications.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发直接在GaAs上生长的应变减轻GaSb薄膜，用于近场热光伏（TPV）器件。 直接低带隙材料的薄膜在功率密度和效率方面都将优于间接带隙材料锗。 在这个项目中，TPV器件将被制造和测试，在近场使用GaSb薄膜直接生长在GaAs上通过分子束外延（MBE）。 它已被证明，在异质结处的行为良好的90度错配位错的结果在相对便宜的GaAs衬底上生长的GaSb的应变减轻，低缺陷密度薄膜。 这些基板还具有制造单片集成TPV器件所需的光学和电学特性，这些器件与热辐射器近场的操作兼容。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是提供废热回收经济可行的解决方案的潜力。在世界上生产的所有电力中，超过一半以废热的形式被丢弃。 这使得世界各地的研究团队都在寻找废热回收的固态解决方案，但成功率非常有限。 该项目将开发TPV设备，并证明它们在热物体近场的操作可能导致功率密度比现有技术增加十倍以上。 该技术预计将用于工业废热、甲烷燃烧、太阳能、车辆动力、卫星动力和个人便携式动力应用。