Tuning Electrical and Thermal Transport in AlGaN/GaN Heterostructures via Buffer Layer Engineering

Over the last decade, progress in wide bandgap, III-V materials systems based on gallium nitride (GaN) has been a major driver in the realization of high power and high frequency electronic devices. Since the highly conductive, two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the AlGaN/GaN interface is based on built-in polarization fields (not doping) and is confined to very small thicknesses, its charge carriers exhibit much higher mobilities in comparison to their doped counterparts. In this study, we show that this heterostructured material also offers the unique ability to manipulate electrical transport separately from thermal transport through the examination of fully-suspended AlGaN/GaN diaphragms of varied GaN buffer layer thicknesses. Notably, we show that ~$100$ nm thin GaN layers can considerably impede heat flow without electrical transport degradation, and that a significant improvement (~$4$x) in the thermoelectric figure of merit ($\it zT$) over externally doped GaN is observed in 2DEG based heterostructures. We also observe state-of-the art thermoelectric power factors ($4-7\times$ $10^{-3}$$\,Wm^{-1}K^{-2}$) at room temperature) in the 2DEG of this material system. This remarkable tuning behavior and thermoelectric enhancement, elucidated here for the first time in a polarization-based heterostructure, is achieved since the electrons are at the heterostructured interface, while the phonons are within the material system. These results highlight the potential for using the 2DEG in III-V materials for on-chip thermal sensing and energy harvesting.