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Effects of thickness on thermoelectric properties of Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 thin films

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Abstract

Bi2Te3-based materials have been widely utilized for commercial bulk thermoelectric (TE) devices. For the manufacture of miniaturized TE devices, the large-scale deposition of high-performance Bi2Te3-based thin films is crucial. However, it has not yet been effectively resolved. Herein, the Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 films with different thicknesses were grown on sapphire substrates by controlling the co-sputtering time. We reveal that the film thickness has a significant impact on the electrical transport properties. Due to the mutual influence of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, there exists an optimal thickness with the maximum power factor is as high as 2900 μW m−1 K−2. Therefore, systematic research on the thickness-dependent TE characteristics of Bi2Te3-based films and the deposition of high-performance films will provide important information for the large-scale development of high-performance micro-TE devices.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0703400), Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program (No. XLYC1807209), and the Distinguished Young Scholars for Science and Technology of Dalian City (2016RJ05). We thank Prof. Can Li for the Hall measurement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

    Xiaobin Han, Zhenyu Zhang & Chao Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Xiaobin Han, Zhengmao Liu, Chao Xu, Xiaowei Lu, Lin Sun & Peng Jiang

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  1. Xiaobin Han
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  2. Zhenyu Zhang
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  3. Zhengmao Liu
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  6. Lin Sun
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  7. Peng Jiang
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Correspondence to Zhenyu Zhang or Peng Jiang.

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Han, X., Zhang, Z., Liu, Z. et al. Effects of thickness on thermoelectric properties of Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 thin films. Appl Nanosci 10, 2375–2381 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-020-01441-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-020-01441-8

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