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Enhanced adhesion and conductivity of Cu electrode on AlN substrate for thin film thermoelectric device

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials and Films, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China

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Xin Chen

Department of New Electrical Materials and Microelectronics, State Grid Smart Grid Research Institute, Beijing 102211, P. R. China

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Yuan Deng

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials and Films, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China

Corresponding author.

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Yao Wang

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials and Films, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China

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Hongli Gao

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials and Films, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China

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Wei Zhu

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials and Films, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China

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Lili Cao

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials and Films, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China

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Bingwei Luo

Beijing Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials and Films, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, P. R. China

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Zhixiang Zhu

Department of New Electrical Materials and Microelectronics, State Grid Smart Grid Research Institute, Beijing 102211, P. R. China

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Guang Ma

Department of New Electrical Materials and Microelectronics, State Grid Smart Grid Research Institute, Beijing 102211, P. R. China

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, and

Yu Han

Department of New Electrical Materials and Microelectronics, State Grid Smart Grid Research Institute, Beijing 102211, P. R. China

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https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793604715500320Cited by:7 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

The Cu thin film electrode grown on aluminum nitride (AlN) substrate is widely used in the thin film thermoelectric devices due to its high electrical conductivity. We have developed a new type of buffer layer by co-sputtering Ti and Cu forming Ti–Cu layer. The Ti–Cu layer was sputtered on the Ti buffered AlN substrate so that the adhesion and electrical conductivity properties of the Cu film electrode on AlN substrate could be improved. The interface between the thin films and the substrate were characterized by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Nanoscratch tests were conducted on a nanomechanical test system to investigate the adhesion between the Cu film electrodes and AlN substrate. Meanwhile, accelerated ageing test under thermal cycling was conducted to evaluate the reliability of the thin film electrode. The results show that the adhesion and the reliability of Cu film electrode on AlN substrate have been greatly improved by employing Ti–Cu/Ti buffer layers.

Keywords:

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