Contact of ZnSb thermoelectric material to metallic electrodes using S-Bond 400 solder alloy. (2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Abbas Malik, Safdar; Thanh Hung, Le; Van Nong, Ngo
• Is Part Of: Materials today. Volume 8:Part 2(2019)
• Page Start: 625
• Page End: 631
• Publication Date: 2019
• Subjects: Thermoelectric Modules -- Interface Kinetics -- Zinc Antimonide -- S-Bond 400; Materials science -- Congresses -- Periodicals; 620.1
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2019.02.062
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2214-7853

Abstract

Abstract: ZnSb is one of the promising low-cost p-type thermoelectric materials for constructing waste heat recovery devices operating in the medium temperature region (250 – 400 °C). To obtain high performance, these devices require stable and low resistance contacts between thermoelectric materials and metallic electrodes. In this paper, we investigate the joining of ZnSb to Ni and Ag electrodes using a commercial solder alloy S-Bond 400 and hot-pressing technique. Ti and Cr layers are also introduced as a diffusion barrier and microstructure at the interfaces is observed by scanning electron microscopy. We found that S-bond 400 solder reacts with Ag and Ni electrodes to form different alloys at the interfaces. Cr layer was found to be broken after joining, resulting in a thicker reaction/diffusion layer at the interface, while Ti layer was preserved.