Seebeck Analysis of ALD Synthesized Thermoelectric Sb2Te3 Thin Films

Monday, 10 October 2022
S. Tahsin (Old Dominion University) and H. Baumgart (Electrical Eng. Dept., Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA)
Thermoelectric materials have attracted significant attention due to their potential application in power generation and refrigeration systems, because they can convert thermal energy into electric energy from waste heat recovery. Thin thermoelectric films can be used to create thermoelectric generators, where the power they create does not result in any additional emissions. PbTe, PbSe and Sb2Te3, Bi2Te3 present excellent choices for thermoelectric energy harvesting devices. Among these, Sb2Te3 and its derivatives have high Seebeck coefficient and good electrical conductivity, which make these the most promising p-type material for low temperature thermoelectric device. The high figure of merit ZT values at relatively low temperature make these exceptional thermoelectric materials. This study investigates Seebeck coefficient measurements of Sb2Te3 thin film synthesized by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) technology using a Veeco Nanotech thermal ALD reactor. For the ALD synthesis of Sb2Te3 we used SbCl3 as precursor1 and (Si(CH3)3)2Te Bis(trimethylsilyl)telluride as precursor 2. Antimony trichloride Sb2Te3 is a solid ALD precursor requiring preheating to the melting temperature around 73 ℃ to generate sufficient vapor pressure. A typical film morphology of ALD Sb2Te3 is shown in the SEM micrograph of Fig.1. The efficiency of thermoelectric materials is expressed by the dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT = S2σT/k, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, σ is the electrical conductivity, and k is the thermal conductivity. Because the crucial Seebeck coefficient factors directly into the equation by the power of two to determine ZT and the power factor, it is imperative to optimize the thermoelectric thin film material for maximum Seebeck coefficient. Maximizing the figure of merit ZT is challenging because in thermoelectric materials the quantities S, σ and κ are interrelated in such a way as to make independent control of these variables to increase ZT not straightforward. An increase in S typically results in a decrease of σ. Following the Wiedeman- Franz law a decrease in σ produces a decrease in the electronic contribution to κ complicating matters.