The effect of post-deposition annealing conditions on structural and thermoelectric properties of sputtered copper oxide films

The development of thin-film thermoelectric applications in sensing and energy harvesting can benefit largely from suitable deposition methods for earth-abundant materials. In this study, p-type copper oxide thin films have been prepared on soda lime silicate glass by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering at room temperature from a pure copper metallic target in an argon atmosphere, followed by subsequent annealing steps at 300 °C under various atmospheres, namely air (CuO:air), nitrogen (CuO:N) and oxygen (CuO:O). The resultant films have been studied to understand the influence of various annealing atmospheres on the structural, spectroscopic and thermoelectric properties. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the films showed reflexes that could be assigned to those of crystalline CuO with a thin mixed Cu((I))Cu((II)) oxide, which was also observed by near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS). The positive Seebeck coefficient (S) reached values of up to 204 μV K(−1), confirming the p-type behavior of the films. Annealing under oxygen provided a significant improvement in the electrical conductivity up to 50 S m(−1), resulting in a power factor of 2 μW m(−1) K(−2). The results reveal the interplay between the intrinsic composition and the thermoelectric performance of mixed copper oxide thin films, which can be finely adjusted by simply varying the annealing atmosphere.