MRS Symposium I: Nanoscale Heat Transfer―Thermoelectrics, Thermophotovoltaics, and Emerging Thermal Devices
Novel materials and nanostructures such as multilayered systems, nanowires, and nanoparticles are of great interest for applications in thermoelectrics, magneto-electronics, and in the emerging research field of spin-caloritronics. Their fascinating properties are strongly influenced by nanoscale confinement, such as the reduction of heat conductivity and energy filtering of charge carriers. This symposium will focus on hybrid materials and nanostructures for applications of thermal-gradient-based transport, e.g., thermoelectric generators and coolers, and integrated nanoelectronic and nanosensor devices. Currently, nanopatterning is considered to be a promising strategy in the development of thermoelectric materials with high efficiency (ZT). A large variety of thermoelectric materials have been developed in the last five years with a focus on high-temperature applications and high efficiency.
Furthermore, heat management and detection on a submicrometer scale is an important subject for future nano/microelectronic circuits. For example, in magneto-electronic devices, the local heat evolution during current-induced domain wall motion is a limiting factor for the development of race-track memories. This symposium will highlight the latest developments on magneto-thermoelectric transport phenomena and thermophotovoltaic devices. As thermoelectricity is a multidisciplinary field of research, the symposium will ensure that all of the key areas, namely physics, chemistry and engineering, are well represented.
Session topics will include (but will not be limited to):
- Nanostructured materials with thermoelectric, spin-caloritronic, and thermophotovoltaic properties
- High-temperature thermoelectric nanomaterials
- Integrated nanowires or nanopatterned thin-film sensors under thermal gradients
- Autonomous nano- and microsensors
- Thermoelectric, magneto-thermoelectric and thermophotovoltaic nano- or microdevices
- High-density and local-cooling microdevices
- Heat evolution, transfer, and management in nanoelectronics
- Heat formation and material reliability in nanoscale electronic devices
- Novel characterization techniques of thermal-gradient-related properties in nanostructures
- Theory and simulation of thermal-gradient-based transport in nano- and microstructures
Invited speakers include:
Jean-Philippe Ansermet (EPFL, Switzerland), Gerrit Bauer (Technische Univ. Delft, Netherlands), Harald Böttner (Fraunhofer Inst. of Physical Measurement Techniques, Freiburg, Germany), Hartmut Buhmann (Univ. Würzburg, Germany), Claudia Felser (Univ. of Mainz, Germany), Tero T. Heikkilä (Helsinki Univ. of Technolgy, Finland), Joseph P. Heremans (Ohio State Univ.), David C. Johnson (Oregon State Univ.), Mercouri G. Kanatzidis (Northwestern Univ.), Heiner Linke (Univ. of Lund, Sweden), Ingmar Meijer (IBM Reserach - Zurich, Switzerland), Yung Woo Park (Seoul National Univ., Korea), Eiji Saitoh (Tohoku Univ., Japan), Ali Shakouri (Univ. of Californa, Santa Cruz), Jairo Sinova (Texas A&M Univ.), Jeff Snyder (California Inst. of Technology), and Yaroslav Tserkovnyak (Univ. of California, Los Angeles).
Symposium Organizers
Kornelius Nielsch
University of Hamburg, Institute of Applied Physics,
Jungiusstr. 11, 20355 Hamburg, Germany
Tel 49-40-42838-6521, Fax 49-40-42383-3589
nielsch@physik.uni-hamburg.de
Saskia F. Fischer
Ruhr-Univ. of Bochum, Nanoelectronic and Electronic Materials,
Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, IC2/33,
D-44789 Bochum, Germany
Tel 49-234-32-25760, Fax 49-234-32-14166
saskia.fischer@rub.de
Bethanie J. H. Stadler
University of Minnesota, Dept. of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, 200 Union St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Tel 612-626-1628, Fax 612-625-4583, stadler@ece.umn.edu
Ted Kamins
Stanford University, Dept. of Electrical Engineering,
Stanford, CA 94305
Tel 650-723-7537, Fax 650-723-4659, ted_kamins@ieee.org