A four-terminal ballistic rectifier demonstrating voltage rectification for both electrical (AC/DC) as well as thermal (temperature gradient) inputs is presented. The thermoelectric behavior of the graphene triangular ballistic rectifier (G-TBR) is based on its nonlinear electrical response. The responsivity and noise equivalent power of the device are calculated to be 8870 mV/W and 1.59 nW/Hz1/2, respectively, at a back-gate voltage of 5 V. The rectified thermal voltage between two isothermal output (lower and upper) terminals is estimated to be 2.8 µV at a temperature gradient of 150 K. Further, the electric and thermoelectric output of the proposed G-TBR is validated by analytical modeling. Such G-TBRs could be used in the future in energy harvesting application to use heat produced by electronic circuitry, integrated circuits (ICs), etc.
Funding(s)
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India
