Low temperature CVD of thermoelectric SnTe thin films from the single source precursor, [Bu₃Sn(TeBu)]

This work has demonstrated that the single source precursor [nBu3Sn(TenBu)], bearing n-butyl groups and containing the necessary 1 : 1 Sn : Te ratio, facilitates growth of continuous, stoichiometric SnTe thin films. This single source CVD precursor allows film growth at significantly lower temperatures (355-434 °C at 0.01-0.05 Torr) than required for CVD from SnTe powder. This could be advantageous for controlling the surface states in topological insulators. The temperature-dependent thermoelectric performance of these films has been determined, revealing them to be p-type semiconductors with peak Seebeck coefficient and power factor values of 78 μV K-1 and 8.3 μW K-2 cm-1, respectively, at 615 K; comparing favourably with data from bulk SnTe. Further, we have demonstrated that the precursor facilitates area selective growth of SnTe onto the TiN regions of SiO2/TiN patterned substrates, which is expected to be beneficial for the fabrication of micro-thermoelectric generators.