Ultrahigh Power Factor of Sputtered Nanocrystalline N-Type BiTe Thin Film via Vacancy Defect Modulation and Ti Additives.

Magnetron-sputtered thermoelectric thin films have the potential for reproducibility and scalability. However, lattice mismatch during sputtering can lead to increased defects in the epitaxial layer, which poses a significant challenge to improving their thermoelectric performance. In this work, nanocrystalline n-type BiTe thin films with an average grain size of ≈110 nm are prepared using high-temperature sputtering and post-annealing. Herein, it is demonstrated that high-temperature treatment exacerbates Te evaporation, creating Te vacancies and electron-like effects. Annealing improves crystallinity, increases grain size, and reduces defects, which significantly increases carrier mobility. Furthermore, the pre-deposited Ti additives are ionized at high temperatures and partially diffused into BiTe, resulting in a Ti doping effect that increases the carrier concentration. Overall, the 1 µm thick n-type BiTe thin film exhibits a room temperature resistivity as low as 3.56 × 10 Ω∙m. Notably, a 5 µm thick BiTe thin film achieves a record power factor of 6.66 mW mK at room temperature, which is the highest value reported to date for n-type BiTe thin films using magnetron sputtering. This work demonstrates the potential for large-scale of high-quality BiTe-based thin films and devices for room-temperature TE applications.