Deposition of Bismuth Telluride Thick Film by Solidification under Centrifugal Pressure

Bismuth telluride alloys—Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 and Bi 1.8 Sb 0.2 Te 3.33 Se 0.17 —have been deposited on polycrystalline zirconia via solidification under centrifugal pressure. The crystal growth under centrifugal pressure was a process in which the starting powders charged in the groove patterns of the substrates were first melted and then solidified under centrifugal acceleration of 10 4 m/s 2 . This new process offers c -axis-oriented films with a thickness of more than 100 μ m. A mirror-like surface is another characteristic feature of these films. Owing to their orientation, reasonable power factors such as 4.2 mW/m K 2 and 2.7 mW/m K 2 (in plane) were obtained for p - and n -type films, respectively.