Thermoelectric properties of nanocrystalline SbTe thin films: experimental evaluation and first-principles calculation, addressing effect of crystal grain size.

The effect of crystal grain size on the thermoelectric properties of nanocrystalline antimony telluride (SbTe) thin films was investigated by experiments and first-principles studies using a developed relaxation time approximation. The SbTe thin films were deposited on glass substrates using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. To change the crystal grain size of the SbTe thin films, thermal annealing was performed at different temperatures.