Fabrication and characterization of Pb1−xYbxTe based alloy thin film thermoelectric generators using thermal evaporation method

In this work fabricated p-Pb_0.925Yb_0.075Te:Te and n-Pb_0.925Yb_0.075Te thin films thermoelectric devices are composed of 20-pair and 10-pair deposited on a glass substrate using simple thermal evaporation method. Overall size of thin films thermoelectric generators which consist of 20-pairs and 10-pair of legs connected by aluminum electrodes (Al-electrode) was 23 mm×20 mm and 12 mm×10 mm, respectively. The 20-pair p-n thermocouples in series device generated output maximum open-circuit voltage of 742.7 mV and a maximum output power up to 0.657 μW at temperature difference ΔT = 162 K, and 467.9 mV and 0.346 μW at ΔT = 162 K, for 10-pair, respectively.