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

The peculiarities of obtaining p -Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 and n -Bi 2 Te 2.7 Se 0.3 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 μV/K and low electrical power factors of 9.7 and 5.0 μW/(cm K 2 ) respectively due to the relatively high electrical resistances of the films.