Optimization in fabricating skutterudite CoSb3 thermoelectric thin films

Z.-H. Zheng (1) , M. Wei , F. Li , J.-T. Luo , H.-L. Ma (1) , G.-X. Liang (1) , X.-H. Zhang (1) , P. Fan

1 ISCR - Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes

CoSb3 based thin films were prepared at room temperature by radio-frequency sputtering and the CoSb3 alloy targets were used with the Co:Sb atomic ratio of 1:3, 1:3.5 and 1:4, respectively. Then the as-deposited thin films were annealed at 300 and 325 °C under argon atmosphere for 1 h. It can be found that the thin films have single skutterudite phase structure when used the Co:Sb (1:3.5) alloy target. Though other films show the primary CoSb3 phase structure, there are some impurity phases can be observed from the X-ray diffraction patterns. For contrast, the thin films prepared by the Co:Sb (1:3.5) alloy target were annealed from 250 to 350 °C with the temperature interval of 25 °C. The results show that the thin film annealed at 325 °C has the best thermoelectric performance. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Keywords: Annealing; Antimony; Cobalt; Film preparation; Phase structure; Skutterudites; Sputtering; Thermoelectricity; X ray diffraction; Argon atmospheres; As-deposited thin films; Atomic ratio; Impurity phasis; Radio frequency sputtering; Temperature intervals; Thermoelectric performance; Thermoelectric thin films; Thin films

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Z.-H. Zheng, M. Wei, F. Li, J.-T. Luo, H.-L. Ma, et al.. Optimization in fabricating skutterudite CoSb3 thermoelectric thin films. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, 2017, 28 (22), pp.17221-17226. ⟨10.1007/s10854-017-7652-5⟩. ⟨hal-01639690⟩