Recent Advances in the Growth of Bi-Sb-Te-Se Thin Films

Thin films of Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3 and Bi2Se3 have been intensively studied during the past ten years both as the best thermoelectric materials operating near room temperature and also as an excellent material with which to explore the newly-discovered form of quantum matter called topological insulators (TI). In this review, we first recapitulate the fundamental properties of bulk forms of these materials, then discuss recent progress in fabrication of thin films and superlattices of these narrow-gap semiconductors, discuss their transport properties relevant to their effectiveness as thermoelectric materials, and finally give an outlook on this material system for both fundamental study and applications in thermoelectric energy conversion.