Studies on surface preparation and smoothness of nanostructured Bi2Te3-based alloys by electrochemical and mechanical methods |
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Authors: | Hsien-Ping Feng Bo Yu Shuo Chen Kimberlee Collins Chao He Z.F. Ren Gang Chen |
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Affiliation: | aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;bDepartment of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA |
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Abstract: | Significant improvements in the dimensionless thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) for nanostructured bismuth telluride, Bi2Te3, and its alloys have been demonstrated. In designing high-performance thermoelectric devices, variations in the thermal and electrical contact resistances due to interfacial effects between the nanostructured alloy and the metallic electrodes remain a significant issue. Smooth scratch-free surfaces should provide a baseline for contact resistance studies. In this paper, the root mean square roughness over a 10 μm2 of nanostructured bismuth tellurium based alloys was reduced from 133 nm to 1.9 nm by a procedure consisting of electrolysis, mechanical polishing, and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Post-CMP cleaning was also developed to yield a wettable surface for the subsequent conformable metallization. |
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Keywords: | Nanostructures Bismuth telluride based alloys Thermoelectrics Electrolysis Chemical mechanical polishing |
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