• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.13 no.5 s.58
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• pp.313-320
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• 2006

The present study is to analyze the thermoelectric properties of $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ thermoelectric materials fabricated by the mechanical grinding process. The $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ powders were prepared by the combination of mechanical milling and reduction treating methods using simply crushed pre-alloyed $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ powder. The mechanical milling was carried out using the tumbler-ball mill and planetary ball mill. The tumbler-ball milling had an effect on the carrier mobility rather than the carrier concentration, whereas, the latter on the carrier concentration. The specific electric resistivity and Seebeck coefficient decreased with increasing the reduction-heat-treatment time. The thermal conductivity continuously increased with increasing the reduction-heat-treatment time. The figure of merit of the $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ sintered body prepared by the mechanical grinding process showed higher value than one of the sintered body of the simply crushed powder.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.89-92
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• 2005

The induction melting was employed to prepare Nb-doped $CoSb_3$ skutterudites and their thermoelectric properties were investigated. Single phase $\delta-CoSb_3$ was successfully obtained by induction melting and subsequent annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ for 2 hrs in vacuum. The positive signs of Seebeck coefficients for all the specimens revealed that Nb atoms acted as p-type dopants by substituting Co atoms. Electrical conductivity decreased and then increased with increasing temperature, indicating mixed conduction behavior. Electrical conductivity increased by Nb doping, and it was saturated at high temperature. Maximum value of the thermoelectric power factor was shifted to higher temperature with increasing the amount of Nb doping, mainly originated from the high Seebeck coefficient around mixed conduction temperature and high electrical conductivity.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.162-166
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• 2017

Thermoelectric compounds of $Zn_{1-x}Ag_xSb$ with x = 0~0.2 were prepared by vacuum melting and quenching process and their crystal phases and thermoelectric properties were examined. It was found that free metallic Sb phases were formed in the compound with x = 0.05, leading to increasing the electrical conductivities. The power factors were significantly affected by the electrical conductivity rather than Seebeck coefficient. When x > 0.05, the peak intensities of $Ag_3Sb$ phases in XRD patterns were increased and those of free Sb phases were weakened. These changes of second phases resulted in decreasing the electrical conductivities and the power factors and became more obvious in the compound with x = 0.2.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.23-23
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• 2009

It has been challenging to increase the thermoelectric figure of merit ($ZT=S^2{\sigma}T/\kappa$) of materials, which determine the efficiency of thermoelectric devices, because the three parameters Seebeck coefficient (S), electrical conductivity ($\sigma$), and thermal conductivity ($\kappa$) of bulk materials are inter-dependent. With the development of nanotechnology, ZT values of nanostructured materials are predicted to be enhanced by classical size effects and quantum confinement effects. In particular, Bi nanowires were suggested as one of ideal thermoelectric materials due to the expected quantum confinement effects for the simultaneous increase in Sand. In this work, we have investigated the thermal conductivity of individual single crystalline Bi nanowires with d = 98 nm and d = 327 nm in the temperature range 40 - 300 K using MEMS devices. The for the Bi nanowire with d = 98 nm was observed to be ~ 1.6 W/m-K at 300 K, which is much lower than that of Bi bulk (8 W/m-K at 300 K). This indicates that the thermal conductivity of the Bi suppressed due to enhanced surface boundary scattering in one-dimensional structures. Our results suggest that Bi nanowires grown by stress-induced method can be used for high-efficiency thermoelectric devices.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.520-527
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• 1999

As a new approache(extrusion-sintering process) to fabricate the thermoelectric materials, it has been at tempted to extrude and sinter the powders simultaneously. It was possible to produce the highly dense <$(Bi,Sb)_2(Te,Se)_3$-based thermoelectrics with sound surface appearances and microstructures by adjusting the process variables. For the p-type materials, the Seeback coefficient was increased with the amount of Te dopants, and the thermoelectric figure of merit appeared to be $2.5\times10^{-3}/K$ at room temperature when doped with 3 at % Te. The n-type specimen doped with 0.16 mol% $SbI_3$ showed the thermoelectric figure of merit of $1.8\times10^{-3}/K$. In both p-type an 우-type materials, the carrier mobility an the thermoelectric figure of merit parallel to the extrusion direction were higher than those perpendicular to it.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.340-344
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• 2011

Thermoelectric bismuth telluride ($Bi_2Te_3$) films were deposited on $4^{\circ}$ off oriented (001) GaAs substrates using a modified metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system. The effects of substrate temperature on surface morphologies, crystallinity, electrical properties and thermoelctric properties were investigated. Two dimensional growth mode (2D) was observed at substrate temperature lower than $400^{\circ}C$. However, three dimensional growth mode (3D) was observed at substrate temperature higher than $400^{\circ}C$. Change of growth mechanism from 2D to 3D was confirmed with environmental scanning electron microscope (E-SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis. Seebeck coefficients of all samples have negative values. This result indicates that $Bi_2Te_3$ films grown by modified MOCVD are n-type. The maximum value of Seebeck coefficient was -225 ${\mu}V/K$ and the power factor was $1.86{\times}10^{-3}\;W/mK^2$ at the substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$. $Bi_2Te_3$ films deposited using modified MOCVD can be used to fabricate high-performance thermoelectric devices.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.881-887
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• 2014

Micro-sized Peltier coolers are generally employed for uniformly distributing heat generated in the multi-chip packages. These coolers are commonly classified into vertical and planar devices, depending on the heat flow direction and the arrangement of thermoelectric materials on the used substrate. Owing to the strong need for evaluation of performance of thermoelectric modules, at present an establishment of proper theoretical model has been highly required. The design theory for micro-sized thermoelectric cooler should be considered with contact resistance. Cooling performance of these modules was significantly affected by their contact resistance such as electrical and thermal junction. In this paper, we introduce the useful and optimal design model of small dimension thermoelectric module.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.596-601
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• 2020

Silicon carbide is considered a potentially useful material for high-temperature electronic devices because of its large band gap energy and p-type or n-type conduction that can be controlled by impurity doping. Accordingly, the thermoelectric properties of -SiC powder prepared by refined diatomite were investigated for high value-added applications of natural diatomite. -SiC powder was synthesized by a carbothermal reduction of the SiO₂ in refined diatomite using carbon black. An acid-treatment process was then performed to eliminate the remaining impurities (Fe, Ca, etc.). n-Type semiconductors were fabricated by sintering the pressed powder at 2000℃ for 1~5h in an N2 atmosphere. The electrical conductivity increased with increasing sintering time, which might be due to an increase in carrier concentration and improvement in grain-to-grain connectivity. The carrier compensation effect caused by the remaining acceptor impurities (Al, etc.) in the obtained -SiC had a deleterious influence on the electrical conductivity. The absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient increased with increasing sintering time, which might be due to a decrease in the stacking fault density accompanied by grain or crystallite growth. On the other hand, the power factor, which reflects the thermoelectric conversion efficiency of the present work, was slightly lower than that of the porous SiC semiconductors fabricated by conventional high-purity -SiC powder, it can be stated that the thermoelectric properties could be improved further by precise control of an acid-treatment process.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.496-500
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• 2019

In this study, we investigate the effect of an Sb-deficiency on the thermoelectric properties of double-filled n-type skutterudite ($In_{0.05}Yb_{0.15}Co_4Sb_{12-x}$). Samples were prepared by encapsulated induction melting, consecutive long-time annealing, and finally spark plasma sintering processes. The Sb-deficient sample contained a $CoSb_2$ secondary phase. Both the double-filled n-type skutterudite pristine and Sb-deficient samples showed metallic behavior in electrical conductivity with increasing temperature. The carrier concentration of the Sb-deficient sample decreased compared with that of the pristine sample. Due to a decrease in carrier concentration, the Sb deficient sample showed decreased electrical conductivity and an increased Seebeck coefficient compared with the conductivity and coefficient of the pristine sample. Furthermore, the Sb deficient sample showed an increase in the power factor (${\sigma}{\cdot}S^2$); the power factor maximum shifted to athe lower temperature side than ones of the pristine sample. As a result, the Sb-deficient sample represents an improved average figure of merit (ZT) and a $ZT_{max}$ temperature lower than that of the pristine sample. Therefore, we propose that Sb-deficient double-filled n-type skutterudite thermoelectric material ($In_{0.05}Yb_{0.15}Co_4Sb_{12-x}$) be used in the 573~673 K temperature range.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.4835-4841
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• 2015

The effect of particle size and compaction pressure on the thermoelectric properties of n-type $FeSi_2$ was investigated. The starting powders with various particle size were pressed into a compact (compaction pressure; $70{\sim}220kg/cm^2$). The compact specimens were sintered at 1473 K for 7 h and annealed at 1103 K for 100 h under Ar atmosphere to transform to the semiconducting ${\beta}$-phase. The microstructure and phases of the specimens were observed by SEM, XRD and EDS. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient were measured simultaneously for the same specimen at r.t.~1023 K in Ar atmosphere. The electrical conductivity increased with decreasing particle size and hence the increases of relative density of the sintered body and the amount of residual metallic phase ${\varepsilon}$-FeSi due to a increase of the electrical conductivity. The Seebeck coefficient exhibited the maximum value at about 700~800 K and decreased with decreasing particle size. This must be due to a increase of residual metallic phase ${\varepsilon}$-FeSi. On the other hand, the change of compaction pressure appeared to have little effect on the thermoelectric properties. Consequently, the power factor would be affected more by particle size than compaction pressure.