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Thermoelectric Properties of Al-Doped ZnO Thin Films

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Abstract

We have prepared 2 % Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films on SrTiO3 substrates by a pulsed laser deposition technique at various deposition temperatures (T dep = 300–600 °C). The thermoelectric properties of AZO thin films were studied in a low temperature range (300–600 K). Thin film deposited at 300 °C is fully c-axis-oriented and presents electrical conductivity 310 S/cm with Seebeck coefficient −65 μV/K and power factor 0.13 × 10−3 Wm−1 K−2 at 300 K. The performance of thin films increases with temperature. For instance, the power factor is enhanced up to 0.55 × 10−3 Wm−1 K−2 at 600 K, surpassing the best AZO film previously reported in the literature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Sustainable Sciences and Development, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8530, Japan

    S. Saini & P. Mele

  2. Graduate School for Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8530, Japan

    H. Honda

  3. Department of Material Science, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu, 804-8550, Japan

    K. Matsumoto

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu, 804-8550, Japan

    K. Miyazaki

  5. Electric Power Engineering Research Laboratory, CRIEPI, Yokosuka, 240-0196, Japan

    A. Ichinose

Authors
  1. S. Saini
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  2. P. Mele
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  3. H. Honda
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  4. K. Matsumoto
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  5. K. Miyazaki
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  6. A. Ichinose
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Saini.

Additional information

S. Saini and P. Mele contributed equally to this study.

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Saini, S., Mele, P., Honda, H. et al. Thermoelectric Properties of Al-Doped ZnO Thin Films. J. Electron. Mater. 43, 2145–2150 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-2992-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-2992-x

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