Processing influences many aspects of thermal and electrical transport properties in materials. Non-equilibrium microstructures and defects can strongly scatter phonons and electrons in many ways. Even the equilibrium defects and disorder inherent in materials has a profound effect on transport properties. Using near-equilibrium alloys we can combine our atomic level understanding of point defects (using ab initio methods) with phase relations determined from equilibrium thermodynamics to predict alloy structures at varying composition and temperature. Then using simple but effective models for semiconductors, the thermal and electrical transport properties can be explained and improvements predicted.
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