Thermoelectric and structural characterization of individual nanowires and patterned thin films

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2008-12

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This dissertation presents the development of methods based on microfabricated devices for combined structure and thermoelectric characterizations of individual nanowire and thin film materials. These nanostructured materials are being investigated for improving the thermoelectric figure of merit defined as ZT=S²[sigma]T/K, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, [sigma] is the electrical conductivity, K is the thermal conductivity, and T is the absolute temperature. The objective of the work presented in this dissertation is to address the challenges in the measurements of all the three intrinsic thermoelectric properties on the same individual nanowire sample or along the in plane direction of a thin film, and in correlating the measured properties with the crystal structure of the same nanowire or thin film sample. This objective is accomplished by the development of a four-probe thermoelectric measurement procedure based on a micro-device to measure the intrinsic K, [sigma], and S of the same nanowire or thin film and eliminate the contact thermal and electrical resistances from the measured properties. Additionally the device has an etched through hole that facilitates the structural characterization of the sample using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). This measurement method is employed to characterize individual electrodeposited Bi[subscript 1-x]Te[subscript x] nanowires. A method based on annealing the nanowire sample in a forming gas is demonstrated for making electrical contact between the nanowire and the underlying electrodes. The measurement results show that the thermoelectric propertied of the nanowires are sensitive to the crystal quality and impurity doping concentration. The highest ZT found in three nanowires is about 0.3, which is still lower than that of bulk single crystals at the optimum carrier concentration. The lower ZT found in the nanowires is attributed to the high impurity or carrier concentration and defects in the nanowires. The micro-device is further modified to extend its use to characterization of the in-plane thermoelectric properties of thin films. Existing practice for thermoelectric characterization of thin films is obtaining K in the cross plane direction using techniques such as the 3[omega] method or time domain laser thermal reflectance technique whereas the [sigma] and S are usually obtained in the in-plane direction. However, transport properties of nanostructured thin films can be highly anisotropic, making this combination of measurements along different directions unsuitable for obtaining the actual ZT value. Here, the micro-device is used to measure all three thermoelectric properties in the in-plane direction, thus obtaining the in-plane ZT. A procedure based on a nano-manipulator is developed to assemble etched thin film segments on the micro-device. Measurement results of two different types of thin films are presented in this dissertation. The first type is mis-oriented, layered thin films grown by the Modulated Elemental Reactant Technique (MERT). Three different structures of such thin films are characterized, namely WSe₂, Wsubscript x[subscript y] and (PbSe₀.₉₉)subscript x[subscript x] superlattice films. All three structures exhibit in-plane K values much higher than their cross-plane K values, with an increased anisotropy compared to bulk single crystals for the case of the WSe₂ film. The increased anisotropy is attributed to the in-plane ordered, cross-plane disordered nature of the mis-oriented, layered structure. While the WSe₂ film is semi-insulating and the Wsubscript x[subscript y] films are metallic, the (PbSe₀.₉₉)subscript x[subscript x] films are semiconducting with its power factor (S²[sigma]) greatly improved upon annealing in a Se vapor environment. The second type of thin films is semiconducting InGaAlAs films with and without embedded metallic ErAs nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are used to filter out low energy electrons with the introduction of Schottky barriers so as to increase the power factor and scatter long to mid range phonons and thus suppress K. The in-plane measurements show that both the S and [sigma] increase with increasing temperature because of the electron filtering effect. The films with the nanoparticles exhibited an increase in [sigma] by three orders of magnitude and a decrease in S by only fifty percent compared to the films without, suggesting that the nanoparticles act as dopants within the film. On the other hand, the measured in-plane K shows little difference between the films with and without nanoparticles. This finding is different from those based on published cross-plane thermal conductivity results.

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