Room-temperature MBE deposition, thermoelectric properties, and advanced structural characterization of binary Bi[subscript 2]Te[subscript 3] and Sb[subscript 2]Te[subscript 3] thin films

Journal Article · Tue Oct 23 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · J. Alloy Comp.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2012.01.108· OSTI ID:1051120

Peranio, N; Winkler, M; Bessas, D; Aabdin, Z; König, J; Böttner, H; Hermann, R P; Eibl, O ^[1]

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1. Julich

Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films were grown at room temperature on SiO{sub 2} and BaF{sub 2} substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. A layer-by-layer growth was achieved such that metallic layers of the elements with 0.2 nm thickness were deposited. The layer structure in the as-deposited films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and was seen more clearly in Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films. Subsequent annealing was done at 250 C for 2 h and produced the Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} crystal structure as confirmed by high-energy X-ray diffraction. This preparation process is referred to as nano-alloying and it was demonstrated to yield single-phase thin films of these compounds. In the thin films a significant texture could be identified with the crystal c axis being almost parallel to the growth direction for Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and tilted by about 30{sup o} for Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin films. In-plane transport properties were measured for the annealed films at room temperature. Both films yielded a charge carrier density of about 2.6 x 10{sup 19} cm{sup -3}. The Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films were p-type, had a thermopower of +130 {micro}V K{sup -1}, and surprisingly high mobilities of 402 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1}. The Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films were n-type, showed a thermopower of -153 {micro}V K{sup -1}, and yielded significantly smaller mobilities of 80 cm2 V{sup -1} s{sup -1}. The chemical composition and microstructure of the films were investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on cross sections of the thin films. The grain sizes were about 500 nm for the Sb{sub 2}Te{sub 3} and 250 nm for the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} films. In the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin film, energy-filtered TEM allowed to image a Bi-rich grain boundary phase, several nanometers thick. This secondary phase explains the poor mobilities of the Bi{sub 2}Te{sub 3} thin film. With these results the high potential of the nano-alloying deposition technique for growing films with a more complex layer architecture is demonstrated.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
• Sponsoring Organization: FOREIGN
• OSTI ID: 1051120
• Journal Information: J. Alloy Comp., Vol. 521, Issue 04, 2012; ISSN 0925-8388
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANNEALING
ARCHITECTURE
CHARGE CARRIERS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CROSS SECTIONS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEPOSITION
GRAIN SIZE
MICROSTRUCTURE
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
SUBSTRATES
TEXTURE
THERMOELECTRIC PROPERTIES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
TRANSPORT
X-RAY DIFFRACTION