Thermoelectric and Thermoresistive Effect in Bi₂Se₃: A Novel Dual-Mode Temperature and Heat Flux Sensor

Abstract

Here we present a sensor concept for simultaneous heat flux and temperature acquisition based on the thermoelectric and thermoresistive effect in n-type orthorhombic Bi 2 Se 3 . Measurements were performed in the 283-343 K temperature range. Temperature sensitivities as high as -36700 ppm/K (equivalent to a beta-value of 3260 K) and heat flux sensitivities of 0.125 µV/(W/m 2 ) were determined. The temperature and heat flux accuracies were found to be ± 0.6 K and ± 20 W (through a 1cm x 1cm area, equiv. to ± 1 K) and the resolution was determined to be around 0.05 K. The underlying physical mechanisms were further investigated and a deep donor level with ionization energy of 0.292 eV was identified leading to a strong temperature-dependence of donor ionization. The presented device architecture has the potential to be utilized in applications where dual-mode simultaneous temperature and heat flux measurements are beneficial.[