Fabrication of Thermoelectric Sensor Using Group V-VI Elements

This paper details the development of novel thermal sensors that harness the unique thermoelectric properties of group V-VI compounds, specifically bismuth telluride and antimony telluride. These materials were chosen for their excellent ability to convert thermal gradients into electrical signals, leading to enhanced sensitivity and operational stability in the developed sensors. The thermal sensors with Sb2Te3 and Bi2Te3 thin film legs through aluminum ohmic contacts are fabricated by a thermal evaporation method in vacuum. The thin film thermal sensors annealed at 473 K for 1 hour. The output voltage generated by the thermal sensors increases with increasing the number of pairs of the p-n thermoelectric legs. The sensor having four pairs of p-n thermoelectric legs exhibited maximum output voltage of 41.24 mV at the temperature difference 70 oC between the hot and cold junctions. The thermal sensitivity and the output voltage are found to improve after annealing it. The thermal sensitivity of as-deposited and annealed sensor was established to be 0.32 mV/K and 0.60 mV/K respectively