Abstract
We have investigated the thermoelectric properties of 2% Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films depending on the postdeposition cooling atmosphere [in oxygen pressure (AZO-O) or vacuum (AZO-V)]. Thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on sapphire (\(\hbox {Al}_2\hbox {O}_3\)) substrates at various deposition temperatures (\(400^{\circ }\hbox {C}\) to \(600^{\circ }\hbox {C}\)). All films were c-axis oriented. The electrical conductivity of AZO-V thin films was higher than that of AZO-O thin films across the whole temperature range from 300 K to 600 K, due to the optimal carrier concentration (\(10^{20}\,\hbox {cm}^{-3}\)) of AZO-V samples. Furthermore, the thermoelectric performance of AZO-V films increased with the deposition temperature; for instance, the highest power factor of \(0.87\,\times \,10^{-3}\,\hbox{W} \, \hbox{m}^{-1} \, \hbox{K}^{-2}\) and dimensionless figure of merit of 0.07 at 600 K were found for AZO-V thin film deposited at \(600^{\circ }\hbox {C}\).
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
G.M. Ali and P. Chakrabarti, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 43, 415103 (2010).
P.X. Gao and Z.L. Wang, J. Appl. Phys. 97, 044304 (2005).
M. Law, L.E. Greene, J.C. Johnson, and R. Saykally, P. Yang, Nat. Mater. 4, 455 (2005).
M. Kaur, S.V.S. Chauhan, S. Sinha, M. Bharti, R. Mohan, S.K. Gupta, and J.V. Yakhmi, J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 9, 5293 (2009).
M. Ohtaki, T. Tsubota, K. Eguchi, and H. Arai, J. Appl. Phys. 79, 1816 (1996).
J.P. Wiff, Y. Kinemuchi, and K. Watari, Mater. Lett. 63, 2470 (2009).
A.I. Abutaha, S.R. Sarath Kumar, and H.N. Alshareef, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 053507 (2013).
J.W. Fergus, J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 32, 525 (2012).
R. Honga, H. Qia, J. Huanga, H. Hea, Z. Fana, and J. Shaoa, Thin Solid Films 473, 58 (2005).
F.K. Shan, G.X. Liu, W.J. Lee, and B.C. Shin, J. Appl. Phys. 101, 053106 (2007).
B. Singh, Z.A. Khan, I. Khan, and S. Ghosh, Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 241903 (2010).
P. Mele, S. Saini, H. Honda, K. Matsumoto, K. Miyazaki, H. Hagino, and A. Ichinose, Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 253903 (2013).
S. Saini, P. Mele, H. Honda, D.J. Henry, P.E. Hopkins, L.M. Luna, K. Matsumoto, K. Miyazaki, and A. Ichinose, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 53, 060306 (2014).
P. Mele, K. Matsumoto, T. Azuma, K. Kamesawa, S. Tanaka, J. Kurosaki, and K. Miyazaki, Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 1166, 3 (2009).
D.G. Cahill, K.E. Goodson, and A. Majumdar, J. Heat Transf. 124, 223241 (2002).
A.J. Schmidt, X. Chen, and G. Chen, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 114902 (2008).
P.E. Hopkins, J.R. Serrano, L.M. Phinney, S.P. Kearney, T.W. Grasser, and C.T. Harris, J. Heat Transf. 132, 081302 (2010).
H. Böttner, Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 1166, N01–01 (2009).
G.S. Nolas and H.J. Goldsmid, Thermal Conductivity: Theory, Properties and Applications (Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York, 2004), p. 114.
J.Y. Seto, J. Appl. Phys. 46, 5247 (1975).
K.-K. Kim, S. Niki, J.Y. Oh, J.O. Song, T.Y. Seong, S.J. Park, S. Fujita, and S.W. Kim, J. Appl. Phys. 97, 066103 (2005).
G.J. Snyder and E.S. Toberer, Nat. Mater. 7, 105 (2008).
Acknowledgements
We thank Prof. T. Suzuki, Prof. T. Takabatake and Prof. T. Suekuni, AdSM, Hiroshima University, for their kind support on experimental techniques and measurements.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
S. Saini and P. Mele contributed equally to this paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Saini, S., Mele, P., Honda, H. et al. Influence of Postdeposition Cooling Atmosphere on Thermoelectric Properties of 2% Al-Doped ZnO Thin Films Grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition. J. Electron. Mater. 44, 1547–1553 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3471-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3471-0