Abstract
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•Growth of ZnInO thin films by physical vapor deposition.•Effect of source to substrate distance on thermoelectric properties.•XRD confirmed the wurtzite structure.•Modulation of thermoelectric properties by source to substrate distance.
In this manuscript, we have established the relationship of crystal quality with thermo-motive force in Zinc Indium Oxide (ZnInO) thin films deposited by Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) technique. The crystal quality is modulated by growing the samples at various source to substrate distances in the vacuum quarts tube furnace. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) data is confirmed the wurtzite hexagonal structure ZnInO. Furthermore it is demonstrated that sample grown at 22 cm source to substrate distance is demonstrated the poor crystal quality. The Raman spectroscopic analysis also confirmed the rotational and vibrational modes of ZnInO structure. It is observed that the highest value of Seebeck coefficient (218.1 ± 1.2 µV/°C) is obtained for the sample grown using 22 cm distance which has a poor crystal quality. The similar trend for electrical conductivity and power factor was also observed. This behavior of thermoelectric parameters can be explained as; at optimal distance (22 cm), charge carriers are mobile enough to simultaneously enhance the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. This argument is further justified in the result and discussion section.