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Complete Characterization of Thermoelectric Materials by a Combined van der Pauw Approach and the Effect of Radiation Losses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

Johannes de Boor
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle, Germany
Volker Schmidt
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle, Germany
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Abstract

We have recently presented a novel method for a complete thermoelectric characterization [J. de Boor, V. Schmidt. Adv. Mater. 22:4303, (2010)]. This method is based on the well-known electrical van der Pauw method and allows measurement of the electrical and thermal conductivity, the Seebeck coefficient and the thermoelectric figure of merit. After a short review of this method we will discuss the systematic measurement errors of the method. It turns out that radiative heat loss can affect the thermal conductivity measurement significantly. We will give a simple estimation for the relative error due to radiation losses and discuss error minimizing strategies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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