Nanoscale superlattice (SL) structures have proven to be effective in enhancing the thermoelectric (TE) properties of thin films. Herein, the main phase of antimony telluride (Sb2Te3) thin film with sub-nanometer layers of antimony oxide (SbOx) is synthesized via atomic layer deposition (ALD) at a low temperature of 80 °C. The SL structure is tailored by varying the cycle numbers of Sb2Te3 and SbOx. A remarkable power factor of 520.8 µW m−1 K−2 is attained at room temperature when the cycle ratio of SbOx and Sb2Te3 is set at 1:1000 (i.e., SO:ST = 1:1000), corresponding to the highest electrical conductivity of 339.8 S cm−1. The results indicate that at the largest thickness, corresponding to ten ALD cycles, the SbOx layers act as a potential barrier that filters out the low-energy charge carriers from contributing to the overall electrical conductivity. In addition to enhancing the scattering of the mid-to-long-wavelength at the SbOx/Sb2Te3 interface, the presence of the SbOx sub-layer induces the confinement effect and strain forces in the Sb2Te3 thin film, thereby effectively enhancing the Seebeck coefficient and reducing the thermal conductivity. These findings provide a new perspective on the design of SL-structured TE materials and devices.

Creator

• Samik Mukherjee
• Fabian Krahl
• Tobias Ritschel
• Jun Yang
• Axel Lubk
• Pavel Potapov
• Kornelius Nielsch
• Xiaoyu Wang
• Jochen Geck
• Sebastian Lehmann

Mitwirkende

• Nano Micro Small

Subject

• Engineering

Publisher

• Wiley

Stichwort

• Interface engineering
• Atomic layer deposition

Date created

• 2023

Resource type

• Research Paper

Rights statement

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

• All rights reserved