Contact resistance due to potential barrier at thermoelectric material–metal boundary
Keywords:
thermoelectric material-metal contact, potential barrier, electrical boundary resistanceAbstract
The theoretical aspects of estimating the resistance due to carriers passing through a potential barrier at the boundary between thermoelectric material and metal are considered. The temperature dependences of boundary resistivity were calculated for thermoelectric legs of Bi2Te3 based materials with the deposited anti-diffusion nickel layers. It was established that the value of boundary resistance in such legs varies with temperature from 0.5×10-7 to 2.5×10-7 Ohm×сm2. It was shown that boundary resistance can be reduced by increasing carrier concentration in the ultra-thin nickel contact layer of thermoelectric material due to doping. It was established that increasing the concentration of doping impurities in the near-contact zone by one order of magnitude with respect to its optimal value results in decreasing electrical boundary resistance by two orders. Under these conditions, the resistance value approaches minimum possible value and is 10-9 Ohm×сm2. Bibl. 35, Fig. 6, Tabl. 1.
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