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Pulsed Hybrid Reactive Magnetron Sputtering for High zT Cu 2 Se Thermoelectric Films
Author(s) -
PerezTaborda Jaime A.,
Vera Liliana,
CaballeroCalero Olga,
Lopez Elvis O.,
Romero Juan J.,
Stroppa Daniel G.,
Briones Fernando,
MartinGonzalez Marisol
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced materials technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.184
H-Index - 42
ISSN - 2365-709X
DOI - 10.1002/admt.201700012
Subject(s) - thermoelectric effect , materials science , thermoelectric materials , sputter deposition , sputtering , thermoelectric generator , cavity magnetron , fabrication , optoelectronics , seebeck coefficient , annealing (glass) , figure of merit , crystallite , microstructure , thin film , metallurgy , nanotechnology , composite material , thermal conductivity , physics , thermodynamics , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
Thermoelectric films on flexible substrates are of interest for the integration of thermoelectric in wearable devices. In this work, copper selenide films are achieved by a novel low‐temperature technique, namely pulsed hybrid reactive magnetron sputtering (PHRMS ) . A brief introduction to the basic chemistry and physics involved during growth is included to explain its fundamentals. PHRMS is a single‐step, room temperature (RT), fabrication process carried out in another ways conventional vacuum sputtering system. It does not require high‐temperature post‐annealing to obtain films with great thermoelectric performance. It is, therefore, compatible with polymeric substrates like Kapton tape. Several sets of films covering a large exploratory compositional range (from Cu/Se = 1 to 9) are deposited and their microstructure and thermoelectric properties are analyzed at RT. Power factors as high as 1.1 mW m −1 K −2 in the in‐plane direction and thermal conductivities as low as κ = 0.8 ± 0.1 W m −1 K −1 in the out‐of‐plane direction have been obtained for β‐Cu 2 Se films. Consequently, a figure of merit of 0.4 at RT can be estimated under the assumption that for this polycrystalline cubic phase no additional anisotropy in the thermoelectric properties is introduced by the planar configuration. Moreover, PHRMS is also industrially scalable and compatible with the in‐line fabrication of other selenides.