Variation of electrical transport properties and thermoelectric figure of merit with thickness in 1% excess Te-doped Pb_0.2Sn_0.8Te thin films

Abstract

Ph&no.BTe thin films of different thicknesses have been deposited on glass substrates by flash evaporation. Electrical resistivity and thermoelectric power measurements have been carried out in the temperature range 30C-500 K as a function of film thickness. The thickness dependence of the electrical resistivity and thermoelectric power observed has been explained using the effective mean free path model of classical size effect theoly. The thermoelectric power factor was calculated from the measured values of electrical resistivity and thermoelectric power. The thermoelectric power factor is found to be dependent on thickness and temperature. By taking thermal conductivity values from the literature, the thermoelectric figure of merit was also calculated and it was found that this too was dependent on the temperature and thickness.

SnTe Nanocrystals: A New Example of Narrow-Gap Semiconductor Quantum Dots

“…Bulk SnTe is a IV−VI semiconductor with a direct band gap of 0.18 eV at 300 K. It is used in mid-IR photodetectors and thermoelectric heat converters . The previous attempts to synthesize SnTe NCs did not yield uniform particles of controllable size …”

“…It is used in mid-IR photodetectors 13 and thermoelectric heat converters. 14 The previous attempts to synthesize SnTe NCs did not yield uniform particles of controllable size. 15 Here we report a solution-phase synthesis of high-quality colloidal SnTe NCs with mean diameters tunable in the range of ca.…”