Thermoelectric Characterization Of Direct Current Magnetron Co-Sputtering Zinc Antimonide Thin Films

Direct current magnetron co-sputtering was used to deposit zinc antimonide thin films on BK7 glass substrates at room-temperature. Then the films were annealed at 573 K to 673 K for 1 hour in Ar atmosphere. The results indicate that the Seebeck coefficient of the thin films increase from 30.5 mu VK(-1)to 132.5 mu VK-1 when the annealing temperature changed. The electrical conductivity of the thin films increases from 3.45x10(3) to 6.86x10(3) Sm-1 and the Power Factor is enhanced greatly from 0.03x10(4) to 0.99x10(-4) Wm(-1)K(-2) when the annealing temperature reached 598 K. X-ray diffraction result shows that the major diffraction peaks of the thin films match those of beta phase Zn4Sb3 and high crystalline thin films are achieved after annealing.