Mechanical and Electrical Characterization of Low-resistivity Contact Materials for Mg2Si. (2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ferrario, A.; Battiston, S.; Boldrini, S.; Sakamoto, T.; Miorin, E.; Famengo, A.; Miozzo, A.; Fiameni, S.; Iida, T.; Fabrizio, M.
• Is Part Of: Materials today. Volume 2:Number 2(2015)
• Page Start: 573
• Page End: 582
• Publication Date: 2015
• Subjects: n-type Mg2Si -- HMS -- tribological measurements -- brazing -- contact resistance.; Materials science -- Congresses -- Periodicals; 620.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2015.05.078
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2214-7853

Abstract

Abstract: In this work, the characterization of different metal-semiconductor contacts on n -type polycrystalline Mg2 Si and p -type HMS substrates for the application in thermoelectric devices is presented. Metal (e.g. Au, Cu, Ni, Al, and Ti) contacts were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering or melted onto Mg2 Si samples.Moreover, brazing alloy was applied on Mg2 Si and HMS samples. Compositional and morphological characterization of the pellets and coatings were obtained by Field Emission Scanning Electron microscopy (FE-SEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy(EDS). Tribological measurements and in situ FE-SEM observation as a function of temperature were carried out in order to evaluate adhesion properties of the film electrodes deposited onto Mg2 Si substrate. The electrical properties of the different metal-semiconductor interfaces were investigated in terms of their Ohmic or Schottky properties. The resistivity of the samples and the interface contact resistance was obtained with I-V characteristics and a custom-built μ-probe apparatus. The lowest contact resistances measured were 4.43×10 –5 Ω cm 2 for a n -type Mg2 Si leg and 5.29×10 –5 Ω cm 2 for a p -type HMS, both with a braze Cu electrode.