Investigation of Structural and Thermoelectric Properties of Lead Telluride Thin Films Deposited by DC Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

We prepare Lead Telluride (PbTe) thin film by DC magnetron sputtering method. The powder precursors of Pb and Te purity 99.99 % ratio 1:1 were mixed. PbTe Powder was pressed using as sputtering target. DC magnetron sputtering condition, the base pressure is 3.2×10−3 Torr, applied the argon gas (purity 99.99%) in vacuum chamber to obtained working pressure at 50×10−3 Torr. The sputtering power is 25 W and sputtering time is 30 minutes. Phase identification, morphology and film thickness have been investigated by X−ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope. Electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient of the PbTe thin films have been investigated by four probe steady state method. The results demonstrated that the crystal phase of PbTe is face center cubic (FCC) structure. The average PbTe films yielded film thickness is around 460 nm, the average electrical resistivity is 17 Ω m and seebeck coefficient is 8.0×10−5 V K─1.