Thickness Dependence of Thermoelectric Properties and Maximum Output Power of Single Planar SbTe Films.

P-type SbTe films with different thicknesses were deposited on polyimide substrates via heat treatment-assisted DC magnetron sputtering. The correlations between the thickness variance and the structure, dislocation density, surface morphology, thermoelectric properties and output power are investigated. As a result, it is clear that the film thickness and the heat treatment process during growth are related to the diffusion of deposited atoms on the substrate surface, leading to imperfection defects inside the films.

Chalcopyrite CuGaTe(2): a high-efficiency bulk thermoelectric material.

CuGaTe(2) with a chalcopyrite structure demonstrates promising thermoelectric properties. The maximum figure of merit ZT is 1.4 at 950 K.