Improvement of thermoelectric TiZrNiSn thin films by contact layers

Abstract

The Half-Heusler alloy (Ti,Zr)NiSn has been reported [1-6] as one of the thermoelectric (TE) materials with large Seebeck coefficient. Thin films sputtered by magnetron-sputtering have better properties when they are deposited on Cu, rather than Fe, Ni or Si. This interface phenomenon is explained by band-structure calculations and guidelines for 3D-printer processing are provided.