Fabrication and comprehensive structural and transport property characterization of nanoalloyed nanostructured V2VI3 thin film materials

The research on thermoelectrics experienced a renaissance due to the theoretical predictions made by Hicks and Dresselhaus that thermoelectric efficiency could be greatly enhanced through nanostructural engineering. The nanoalloying method has proved to be a promising approach to synthesize binary and nanostructured thin films. The films were analyzed in a combined approach utilizing the FhIPM expertise in thermoelectrical measurement techniques with that of the groups from the University of Kiel for structural analysis and nanoscale characterization of structure and composition via advanced electron microscopy techniques. It is believed that the high degree of thermal stability is caused by the epitaxial growth of the materials for which interdiffusion of the binary constituents is suppressed by a strong degree of c-orientation and the absence of grain boundaries. The feasibility of highly stable, low periodic Bi2Te3/Bi2(Se,Te)3 SLs by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) has already been demonstrated.