Operation of thin-film thermoelectric generator of Ge-rich poly-Ge1-xSnx on SiO2 fabricated by a low thermal budget process

Abstract

A thin-film thermoelectric generator composed of p- and n-type poly-Ge1-xSnx (x ∼ 0.02) on a Si(001) covered with SiO2 has been successfully fabricated by low thermal budget processes (under 300 °C) and demonstrated for the first time. Both the crystallization and dopant activation were simultaneously performed using pulsed UV laser irradiation in flowing water. A recorded activation ratio of Sb in the poly-Ge1-xSnx enabled a relatively high power factor (9.2 μ Wcm-1 K-2 at RT), which is comparable to the counterparts of n-type Ge1-xSnx layers epitaxially grown on InP(001).