[8p-Z18-1~16] 9.4 Thermoelectric conversion

▼ [8p-Z18-11] Study of thin films of the filled skutterudite Sm_y(Fe_xNi_1-x)₄Sb₁₂

〇(D)Giovanna Latronico¹, Paolo Mele¹, Cristina Artini^2,3, Carlo Fanciulli³, Pietro Manfrinetti², Saurabh Singh⁴, Tsunehiro Takeuchi⁴ (1.Shibaura IT, 2.Univ. of Genova, 3.CNR-ICMATE, 4.Toyota Tech. Inst.)

Keywords:Skutterudites, Thin Films, Pulsed Laser Deposition

In this work, we present our results on thin films of skutterudites Sm_y(Fe_xNi_1-x)₄Sb₁₂ with x = 0.63 (crossover n/p type). Films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on fused silica substrates focusing on dense pellets prepared by SPS a laser beam (YAG, λ = 266 nm) under the following conditions: frequency 10 Hz, d_sub-target = 35 mm, T_dep = 20~300 ºC, t_dep = 20~60 min, in P_Ar = 20~1000 mTorr or high vacuum (P = 10^-4 Pa). We also examined the difference between as-deposited and annealed thin films (T = 150-300°C for 2h).
As a preliminary investigation, under SEM, the surface of the films appeared granular, and the size of grains decreases with the reduction of P_Ar. The XRD exposed that the films are amorphous and may require post-annealing. The transport and thermoelectric properties of as-deposited samples were measured between 300 K ~500 K using a home-made apparatus.