On the Pulsed-Laser Deposition of Bismuth-Telluride Thin Films on Polyimide Substrates

The peculiarities of obtaining p-Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 thin thermoelectric films with a thickness of about 300 nm grown on a polyimide substrate by the pulsed-laser-deposition method are reported. The influence of the growth temperature, pressure and target-to-substrate distance on the film's thermoelectric properties is investigated. Thermoelectric p- and n-type films exhibit a high Seebeck coefficient of 220 and -200 mu V/K and low electrical power factors of 9.7 and 5.0 mu W/(cm K-2) respectively due to the relatively high electrical resistances of the films.