Electrical characteristics and detailed interfacial structures of Ag/Ni metallization on polycrystalline thermoelectric SnSe

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2018.11.020

Abstract

Abstract:

SnSe is a promising thermoelectric material with a high figure of merit in single crystal form, which has stimulated continuous research on polycrystalline SnSe. In this study, we investigated a metallization techniques for polycrystalline SnSe to achieve highly efficient and practical SnSe thermoelectric modules. The Ag/Ni metallization layers were formed on pristine polycrystalline SnSe using various deposition technique: sputter coating Ni, powder Ni and foil Ni by spark plasma sintering. Structural analysis demonstrated that the microstructure and contact resistance could be different according to the metallization process, despite using the same metals. The Ag/Ni metallization layer using foil Ni acted as an effective diffusion barrier and minimized electrical contact resistance (2.3×10^-4 Ω cm²). A power loss in the thermoelectric module of only 5% was demonstrated using finite element simulation.

Key words: Thermoelectric, Metallization, Electric contact material, Interface microstructure, SnSe

Kim Yeongseon, Jin Younghwan, Yoon Giwan, Chung In, Yoon Hana, Yoo Chung-Yul, Hyun Park Sang. Electrical characteristics and detailed interfacial structures of Ag/Ni metallization on polycrystalline thermoelectric SnSe[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2019, 35(5): 711-718.

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline p-type SnSe (red circle) and single crystal SnSe along the c-axis (black triangle) [11]: (a) Seebeck coefficient, (b) electrical conductivity, (c) thermal conductivity, and (d) ZT.

Fig. 2 Cross-sectional EDS line scan images of Ag/Ni/SnSe metallized interfaces: (a) sintered-powder-Ni, (b) sputtered-Ni, and (c) foil-Ni.

Fig. 3 (a-e) EDX mapping for Ni powder specimen and FFT patterns of (f) A and (g) B regions.

Fig. 4 (a-e) EDX mapping for Ni sputter specimen and FFT patterns of (f) A′, (g) B′, (h) C′, and (j) D′ regions.

Fig. 5 (a-e) EDX mapping for Ni foil specimen and FFT patterns of (f) A″, (g) B″, (h) C″, and (j) D″ regions.

Fig. 6 Contact resistance measurement results of Ag/Ni/SnSe samples for form of Ni metallization: powder, sputtered and foil-Ni.

Fig. 7 (a) Simulation result of total resistance of thermoelectric legs for each of the metallization processes, (b) the power output simulation result according to the contact resistance for each metallization processes.

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