Effect of Te content on microstructure and thermoelectric properties of Bi–Te multilayers

Bi2Te3 is a thermoelectric material with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency near room temperature. The control of its components is an effective method to improve the thermoelectric properties of Bi–Te based materials. In this paper, seven-layer Bi–Te thin films with Te content ranging from 36.29% to 77.29% were deposited on non-rotating glass substrates by co-sputtering and the samples were rapidly thermally annealed in a nitrogen atmosphere. The films were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Hall effect measurement methods, and the effects of the components on the film morphology and thermoelectric properties were investigated. The results showed that the films were composed of mainly Bi2Te3 after annealing. As the Te element content increased, the grain size in the film surface first increased and then decreased, the layers between the interfaces became less obvious, and the number of voids decreased. Subsequently, thin films with Te content between 60% and 75% were deposited on a rotating substrate; the thermoelectric properties were relatively high and stable after annealing. A film with Te content of 69.29% had a good crystallization quality and large grain size with a maximum power factor of 8.17 µW/(K2 cm) after annealing at 350 °C for 17 min.