Thermoelectric Properties and Morphology of Si/SiC Thin-Film Multilayers Grown by Ion Beam Sputtering

Cramer, Corson; Farnell, Casey; Farnell, Cody; Geiss, Roy; Williams, John

doi:10.3390/coatings8030109

Title: Thermoelectric Properties and Morphology of Si/SiC Thin-Film Multilayers Grown by Ion Beam Sputtering

Journal Article · Mon Mar 19 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Coatings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings8030109· OSTI ID:1432155

Cramer, Corson ^[1]; Farnell, Casey ^[2]; Farnell, Cody ^[2]; Geiss, Roy ^[3]; Williams, John ^[2]

Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Manufacturing Demonstration Facility
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Plasma Controls, LLC, Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Chemistry

Multilayers (MLs) of 31 bi-layers and a 10-nm layer thickness each of Si/SiC were deposited on silicon, quartz and mullite substrates using a high-speed, ion-beam sputter deposition process. The samples deposited on the silicon substrates were used for imaging purposes and structural verification as they did not allow for accurate electrical measurement of the material. The Seebeck coefficient and the electrical resistivity on the mullite and the quartz substrates were reported as a function of temperature and used to compare the film performance. The thermal conductivity measurement was performed for ML samples grown on Si, and an average value of the thermal conductivity was used to find the figure of merit, zT, for all samples tested. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed an amorphous nature of the thin films. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to study the film morphology and verify the nature of the crystallinity. The mobility of the multilayer films was measured to be only 0.039 to 1.0 cm²/Vs at room temperature. The samples were tested three times in the temperature range of 300 K to 900 K to document the changes in the films with temperature cycling. The highest Seebeck coefficient is measured for a Si/SiC multilayer system on quartz and mullite substrates and were observed at 870 K to be roughly -2600 μV/K due to a strain-induced redistribution of the states’ effect. The highest figure of merit, zT, calculated for the multilayers in this study was 0.08 at 870 K.

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Research Organization:: Plasma Controls, LLC, Fort Collins, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; SC0004278

OSTI ID:: 1432155

Journal Information:: Coatings, Vol. 8, Issue 3; ISSN 2079-6412

Publisher:: MDPICopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
thin-film thermoelectric
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