Enhanced thermoelectric properties of thermal treated Sb2Te3 thin films

The 500 nm-thick Sb2Te3 films were deposited onto SiO2/Si substrates using rf magnetron sputtering and annealment at various temperatures for 5 min under an Ar atmosphere. Oxygen incorporated into the films contributed to the compositional stability at an annealing temperature of 320 °C. Samples annealed at 320 °C exhibited conductivity of 1824 S/cm, Seebeck coefficient of 283 μV/K, and a thermal conductivity of 3.0 ± 0.20 W/mK at room temperature, and thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of approximately 1.5.