Effect of grain size on thermoelectric properties of n-type nanocrystalline bismuth-telluride based thin films

The effect of grain size on the thermoelectric properties of n-type nanocrystalline bismuth-telluride based thin films is investigated. We prepare the nanocrystalline thin films with average grain sizes of 10, 27, and 60 nm by a flash-evaporation method followed by a hydrogen annealing process. The thermoelectric properties, in terms of the thermal conductivity by a differential 3 omega method, the electrical conductivity, and the Seebeck coefficient are measured at room temperature and used to evaluate the figure of merit. The minimum thermal conductivity is 0.61 W m(-1) K-1 at the average grain size of 10 nm. We also estimate the lattice thermal conductivity of the nanocrystalline thin films and compare it with a simplified theory of phonon scattering on grain boundaries. For nanosized grains, the lattice thermal conductivity of nanocrystalline thin films decreases rapidly for smaller grains, corresponding to the theoretical calculation. The figure of merit is also decreased as the grain size decreases, which is attributed to the increased number of defects at the grain boundaries. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2990774]