Bi2Te3 as an active material for MEMS based devices fabricated at room temperature

This paper reports, for the first time, on the possibility of using thin films based on bismuth telluride (Bi-Te) alloys as a MEMS surface micromachined structural layer. Furthermore, it is also demonstrated for the first time that the thermoelectric properties of the deposited films can be optimized at room temperature. Developing this material at such low temperature is very attractive for realizing low cost, high performance, miniaturized energy harvesters that can replace batteries in low power applications such as autonomous sensors network, medical implants, pico satellites, etc.