Thermoelectric Analysis of ZnSb Thin Films Prepared by Ns-Pulsed Laser Deposition

Zinc antimonide (ZnSb) is a promising thermoelectric material for the temperature range 300– 600 K. ZnSb thin films were prepared by nanosecond Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) to evaluate the performance of nanostructured films for thermoelectric conversion by the determination of the Power Factor. A study of the influence of structural, compositional and thermoelectric properties of thin films is reported as a function of different deposition parameters, such as repetition rate, pulse energy, and substrate temperature. The evaluation of a thin film ZnSb compound with excess Sb has been performed to verify the variation of the thermoelectric properties. The obtained results are reported and discussed in the 300–600 K temperature range.