Effect of substrates on thermoelectric properties of Ag-Sb-Te thin films within the temperature annealing

The Ag-Sb-Te (AST) thermoelectric thin film was prepared on soda-lime glass and SiO2 1-mu m/Si-wafer substrates by DC magnetron sputtering method at the room temperature (RT). As-deposited thin film samples on both substrate were annealed in temperature range 573-773 K for 30 min within argon (Ar) atmosphere. The crystal structure, morphology, composition, electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient of as-deposited and annealed thin films are investigated. The results demonstrated that the effect of substrates was influenced the crystallinity, morphology and thermoelectric properties of the AST thin films within annealing temperature. Highlighted, the AST thin film on SiO2/Si-wafer substrate showed the highest power factor of 0.84 mW m(-1) K-2 while the AST thin film on soda-lime glass substrate was around 0.053 mW m(-1) K-2 at annealing temperature 773 K.