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Effect of Doping and Annealing on Thermoelectric Properties of Bismuth Telluride Thin Films

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Abstract

This work investigates the thermoelectric and electrical performance of nanostructured thin films of antimony (Sb)-doped Bi2Te3 (thickness ∼ 60 nm) and Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 (thickness ∼ 60 nm). The films were deposited on a glass substrate by thermal evaporation under high vacuum conditions. The structure and morphology of the films was investigated by standard characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the formation of different phases during the synthesis of the films. The Van der Pauw and Harman methods were employed to measure the conductivity (σ) and figure of merit (ZT). Further, samples were subjected to annealing under a high vacuum at 200°C for 1 h to improve the quality and ZT of the deposited films. The Sb-doped Bi2Te3 film was found to be ∼ 6.5 times more conductive than the Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 film. However, the two films exhibited comparable ZT values owing to the small value of the Seebeck coefficient (S) of Sb. This study represents a significant contribution in the field of thermoelectric materials and device applications.

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Acknowledgments

The authors extend their gratitude to DST, Govt. of India, for lending of required monetary support to complete this work. The authors would also like to thank CSIR-NPL for providing access to carry out research work. The authors thank Professor K.G. Suresh from IIT Bombay, Mumbai (India) and Dr. Rupam Goswami from the School of Engineering, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam (India) for help in proofreading the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spintronics and Magnetic Materials Laboratory, Department of Applied Sciences, IIIT-Allahabad, Prayagraj, 211012, India

    Faizan Ahmad & Pramod Kumar

  2. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, IIIT-Allahabad, Prayagraj, 211012, India

    Kavindra Kandpal

  3. CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Sukhvir Singh & Rachana Kumar

  4. Department of Physics, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, 226007, India

    Sandeep Kumar Pundir

  5. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Rachana Kumar

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  1. Faizan Ahmad
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Correspondence to Rachana Kumar or Pramod Kumar.

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Ahmad, F., Singh, S., Pundir, S.K. et al. Effect of Doping and Annealing on Thermoelectric Properties of Bismuth Telluride Thin Films. J. Electron. Mater. 49, 4195–4202 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08126-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-020-08126-6

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