Abstract
We propose using macroporous silicon as an ultra-high aspect ratio scaffolding for epitaxially grown thermoelectric materials, so that thin films can be shaped into materials thick enough for practical devices. The self-limiting nature of atomic layer deposition (ALD) makes it an ideal growth technique for this substrate, as uniform thickness can be obtained at all points inside the macroporous structure, and we demonstrate successful deposition of antimony telluride on pore walls using ALD. Extension of this work to telluride superlattices should enable fabrication of thermoelectric devices with figures of merit (ZT) in excess of 2. Characterization of the thermoelectric and other properties of ALD grown telluride on silicon is ongoing.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
K. F. Hsu, S. Loo, F. Guo, W. Chen, J. S. Dyck, C. Uher, T. Hogan, E. K. Polychroniadis, and M. G. Kanatzidis, “ Cubic AgPbmSbTe2+m: Bulk thermoelectric materials with high figure of merit ,” Science 303 (5659), 818–21 (2004).
V. Kochergin and H. Foell, “ Novel optical elements made from porous Si ,” Mater. Sci. Eng. R-Rep. 52(4-6), 93–140 (2006).
I. Avrutsky and V. Kochergin, “ Optical filtering by leaky guided modes in macroporous silicon ,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 82(21), 3590–2 (2003).
M. Kemell, M. Ritala, M. Leskela, E. Ossei-Wusu, J. Carstensen, and H. Foll, “ Si/Al2O3/ZnO: Al capacitor arrays formed in electrochemically etched porous Si by atomic layer deposition ,” Microelectron. Eng. 84(2), 313–8 (2007).
A. Esmanski and G. A. Ozin, “ Silicon Inverse-Opal-Based Macroporous Materials as Negative Electrodes for Lithium Ion Batteries ,” Adv. Funct. Mater. 19(12), 1999–2010 (2009).
I. Chowdhury, R. Prasher, K. Lofgreen, G. Chrysler, S. Narasimhan, R. Mahajan, D. Koester, R. Alley, and R. Venkatasubramanian, “ On-chip cooling by superlattice-based thin-film thermoelectrics ,” Nat. Nanotechnol. 4(4), 235–8 (2009).
J. Heremans, (Materials Research Society Press, 2003), p. 3–14.
M. S. Dresselhaus, G. Chen, M. Y. Tang, R. G. Yang, H. Lee, D. Z. Wang, Z. F. Ren, J. P. Fleurial, and P. Gogna, “ New directions for low-dimensional thermoelectric materials ,” Adv. Mater. 19(8), 1043–53 (2007).
O. Sneh, R. B. Clark-Phelps, A. R. Londergan, J. Winkler, and T. E. Seidel, “ Thin film atomic layer deposition equipment for semiconductor processing ,” Thin Solid Films 402(1-2), 248–61 (2002).
“An ALD that competes with CVD’s throughput? ,” Solid State Technology’s Wafer News 10(32).
V. Pore, T. Hatanpaa, M. Ritala, and M. Leskela, “ Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal Tellurides and Selenides Using Alkylsilyl Compounds of Tellurium and Selenium ,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131(10), 3478–80 (2009).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hans, D.R., Sneh, O. & Kochergin, V. Nanostructured Telluride Films on Macroporous Silicon for High Efficiency Thermoelectric Devices. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1314, 514 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2011.510
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2011.510