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  • Accepted Manuscript: Correlating thermoelectric properties with microstructure in Bi 0.8 Sb 0.2 thin films

Title: Correlating thermoelectric properties with microstructure in Bi 0.8 Sb 0.2 thin films

The room temperature electronic transport properties of 100 nm-thick thermoelectric Bi 0.8Sb 0.2 films, sputter-deposited onto quartz substrates and post-annealed in an ex-situ furnace, systematically correlate with the overall microstructural quality, improving with increasing annealing temperature until close to the melting point for the alloy composition. Furthermore, the optimized films have high crystalline quality with ~99% of the grains oriented with the trigonal axis perpendicular to the substrate surface. Film resistivities and Seebeck coefficients are accurately measured by preventing deleterious surface oxide formation via a SiN capping layer and using Nd-doped Al for contacts. Our resulting values are similar to single crystals and significantly better than previous reports from films and polycrystalline bulk alloys.
Authors:
 [1] ;  [1] ;  [1] ; ORCiD logo [1]
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  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Report Number(s):
SAND2017-0986J
Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951; 650830
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 110; Journal Issue: 14; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Research Org:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
OSTI Identifier:
1357018