The Influence of Weak Tin Doping on the Thermoelectric Properties of Zinc Antimonide

ZnSb would be a good thermoelectric material with carrier concentration above 10 19 /cm 3 , but unfortunately this has been shown to be difficult to achieve, particularly with Sn as a dopant. Two series ZnSb samples doped with Sn and ZnSn were prepared using hot-pressing technics, and their thermoel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of electronic materials 2016-03, Vol.45 (3), p.1871-1874
Main Authors: Shabaldin, A. A., Prokof’eva, L. V., Snyder, G. J., Konstantinov, P. P., Isachenko, G. N., Asach, A. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Electric power
Electronics and Microelectronics
Hot pressing
Instrumentation
Materials Science
Optical and Electronic Materials
Solid State Physics
Thermodynamics
Zinc
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Summary:ZnSb would be a good thermoelectric material with carrier concentration above 10 19 /cm 3 , but unfortunately this has been shown to be difficult to achieve, particularly with Sn as a dopant. Two series ZnSb samples doped with Sn and ZnSn were prepared using hot-pressing technics, and their thermoelectric properties were investigated in the temperature range from 300 K to 700 K. The tin content of the samples was in the range from 0.1 to 0.5 at.%. Surprisingly, samples with lower tin content achieved higher carrier concentration, which is beneficial for thermoelectric performance. Samples doped with 0.1 at.% Sn achieved Hall carrier concentration above 1 × 10 19 /cm 3 , reaching ZT of 0.9, while for samples doped with 0.5 at.% Sn, the Hall carrier concentration was close to the hole concentration of pure ZnSb. Also, by analyzing hysteresis present in the heating–cooling cycles, we conclude that the role of intrinsic defects in ZnSb is important and that these defects clearly determine the ability of ZnSb to achieve ZT near 1.
ISSN:0361-5235
1543-186X
DOI:10.1007/s11664-015-4266-7