On the pulsed-laser deposition of bismuth-telluride thin films on polyimide substrates

The peculiarities of obtaining $p$-Bi$_{0.5}$Sb$_{1.5}$Te$_{3}$ and $n$-Bi$_{2}$Te$_{2.7}$Se$_{0.3}$ thin thermoelectric films with a thickness of about 300 nm grown on a polyimide substrate by the pulsed-laser-deposition method are reported. The influence of the growth temperature, pressure and target-to-substrate distance on the film’s thermoelectric properties is investigated. Thermoelectric $p$- and $n$-type films exhibit a high Seebeck coefficient of 220 and -200 $\mu$V/K and low electrical power factors of 9.7 and 5.0 $\mu$W/(cm K$^2$) respectively due to the relatively high electrical resistances of the films.