Nanostructured SiGe:Sb solid solutions with improved thermoelectric figure of merit

Thermoelectric Si 0.65 Ge 0.35 Sb δ materials have been fabricated by spark plasma sintering of Ge-Si-Sb powder mixtures.The electronic properties of Si 0.65 Ge 0.35 Sb δ were found to be dependent on the uniformity of mixing of the components, which in turn is determined by the maximum heating temperature during solid-state sintering.Provided the concentration of donor Sb impurity is optimized the thermoelectric figure of merit for the investigated structures can be as high as 0.63 at 490 • C, the latter value is comparable with world-known analogues obtained for Si 1-x GexP δ .