Lithography independent nanostructuring of Bi2Te3 thermoelectric devices

In order to combine the excellent thermoelectric features of nanostructured bismuth telluride (Bi
₂
Te
₃
) at room temperature without using any expensive lithography processes, the formation of Bi
₂
Te
₃
-thermolegs inside an in-plane thermoelectric device is executed with a lithography independent deposition- and reactive ion back-etching process. The resulting nanostructured thermolegs have a width and height in the magnitude of a few hundred nanometers and length in the millimeter regime and are finally interconnected with structures of titanium nitride. This paper presents a concept for a simple fabrication of in-plane thermoelectric devices as well as the production and electrical measurement of the first prototypes. The resulting electrical conductivity of the thermolegs are 57.782*10
³
Ω
^-1
m
^-1
for n-type and 3.579*10
³
Ω
^-1
m
^-1
for p-type Bi
₂
Te
₃
.