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8528569 
Journal Article 
Polarity Effect in a Sn3Ag0.5Cu/Bismuth Telluride Thermoelectric System 
Chien, PY; Yeh, CH; Hsu, HH; Wu, AT; , 
2014 
Yes 
Journal of Electronic Materials
ISSN: 0361-5235
EISSN: 1543-186X 
SPRINGER 
NEW YORK 
284-289 
WOS:000329104500036 
This study investigates electromigration in Bi2Te3 thermoelectric (TE) material systems and the effectiveness of the diffusion barrier under current. The Peltier effect on the interfacial reaction was decoupled from the effect of electromigration. After connecting p- and n-type Bi2Te3 to Sn3Ag0.5Cu (SAC305) solders, different current densities were applied at varying temperatures. The Bi2Te3 samples were fabricated by the spark plasma sintering technique, and an electroless nickel-phosphorous (Ni-P) layer was deposited at the solder/TE interfaces. The experimental results confirm the importance of the Ni diffusion barrier in joint reliability. Intermetallic compound layers (Cu,Ni)(6)Sn-5 and NiTe formed at the solder/Ni-P and Ni-P/substrate interfaces, respectively. The experimental results indicate that the mechanism of NiTe and (Cu,Ni)(6)Sn-5 compound growth was dominated by the Peltier effect at high current density. When the current density was low, the growth of NiTe was affected by electromigration but the changes of thickness for (Cu,Ni)(6)Sn-5 were not obvious.