Evaluation of Ga-Sn-O Thermoelectric Device

A thermoelectric conversion element is a device for converting thermal energy into electric energy. Many thermoelectric materials are toxic and contain rare-metals. Thus we have evaluated thermoelectric effect of Ga-Sn-O (GTO) that is rare-metal free and less toxic. Moreover, how the annealing treatment affects the characteristics. As a result, the power factor was improved by annealing treatment, where the Seebeck coefficient is -284 μ V /K and the power factor is 0.031 mW/mK
²
at Ar:O
₂
= 20:4 sccm. On the other hand, the carrier density measured using van der Pauw method is 2.25×10
²⁰
/cm
³
and Hall mobility is 0.88 cm
²
/Vs.