Patterning of Bi2Te3 Polycrystalline Thin-Films on Silicon 

by Brian Morgan and Patrick Taylor 

ARL-TR-4351 January 2008 

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ARL-TR-4351 January 2008 

Patterning of Bi2Te3 Polycrystalline Thin-Films on Silicon 

Brian Morgan and Patrick Taylor 

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Patterning of Bi2Te3 Polycrystalline Thin-Films on Silicon 

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Brian Morgan and Patrick Taylor 

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14. ABSTRACT 

Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric (TE) energy conversion devices are an attractive possibility for recovering usable energy from waste heat. The 

integration of TE devices on silicon substrates opens the door for new highly integrated systems where micro-electro-mechanical systems 

(MEMS) heat exchangers and sensor/actuator technology can be leveraged to improve conversion efficiency and system capability. One 

roadblock on this path is the development of reliable patterning methods for fabricating thin-film TE devices on silicon micromachined 

substrates. This report gives the results from investigating patterning techniques for polycrystalline Bi2Te3 films grown using molecular beam 

epitaxy (MBE). Lithographic patterning and both wet and dry etch techniques are discussed. Results show that the developed processes can 

be used to precisely pattern features smaller than 10 μm on a side and are scalable to vertical dimensions (>> or ≥) 10 μm. 

15. SUBJECT TERMS

Radar signature, computational electromagnetics 

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Brian Morgan 

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ii 
Contents 

List of Figures iv

List of Tables iv

1. Introduction 1

2. Sample Preparation 2

3. Photolithography 4

4. Wet Chemical Etching 5

5. Dry Plasma Etching 6

6. Conclusion 9

References 10

Acronyms 11

Distribution List 12

iii 
iv 

List of Figures 

Figure 1. Conceptual schematic of a TE generator on silicon, where heat exchangers can be 

micromachined in silicon and integrated with MEMS sensors/actuators onto a single chip.....2 

Figure 2. Figure of merit (Z) as a function of temperature for a variety of materials; for room 

temperature applications, Bi2Te3-based compounds are the obvious choice (2). ......................3 

Figure 3. Optical micrograph of a Bi2Te3 sample after lithography—the patterned 

photoresist squares are nicely defined; however, the development step has caused 

significant delamination of Bi2Te3 where metal is not present to anchor it down.....................4 

Figure 4. SEMs of wet etched Bi2Te3, showing (a) the large horizontal mask undercut and 

resulting residue that is quite evident and (b) a close-up of the resulting vertical sidewall ......6 

Figure 5. SEMs of etched Bi2Te3 posts on pre-patterned metal pads—note lack of residue on 

metal as well as the verticality of the sidewalls.........................................................................8 

List of Tables 

Table 1. Measured etch rate (μm/min) as a function of chamber pressure and gas mixture (all 

at 100 W electrode power).........................................................................................................7 

Table 2. Measured etch rates and selectivity to photoresist (PR) as a function of chamber 

pressure and electrode power (all using 15/5/15sccm of CH4/H2/Ar). ......................................7 

Table 3. Initial and final etch recipe parameters.............................................................................8 
1. Introduction 

Waste heat conversion is an area of significant interest to the Army, as >50% of the input energy 

to an internal combustion engine can be lost as heat. Should a fraction of this energy be 

recovered, significant benefits in power output and system efficiency could be realized. In their 

usual form, thermoelectric (TE) devices are fabricated from “bulk” materials that are synthesized 

by freezing molten boules forming ingots. Those ingots proceed through serial processes 

including saw-cut dicing, metallization, and soldering on the path towards a TE device. While 

bulk device fabrication is well-known and mature, miniaturizing that process for micromachined 

TE devices for small and/or complex systems becomes difficult given their limited size and serial 

manufacturing techniques. In contrast, micromachined TE generators could take advantage of 

the huge infrastructure that exists for parallel manufacturing of silicon-based microsystems to 

improve device yield, system performance, integration, and form factor. Applications such as 

unattended ground sensors, thermal imagers, or clandestine tagging, tracking, and locating 

(cTTL) are just some of the possible areas where this technology could be beneficial. 

Industry demonstrations of thin-film TE devices include output powers of >14 W from a 4.6 cm2

device at ∆T~100 °C, with reported efficiencies of 5–10% (1). However, TE materials are 

typically grown on expensive, exotic substrates like barium fluoride (BaF) or gallium arsenide 

(GaAs), neither of which is scalable compared to silicon, nor do they offer the ability to integrate 

electronic devices and/or sensors as silicon does. Thus, the goal of this research is to combine 

three areas of active research within the Microsystem thrust of the U.S. Army Research 

Laboratory (ARL) (TE materials, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors/actuators, 

and thermal management) into a single-chip system similar to that shown conceptually in figure 

1. This report details the technical progress and limitations of directly patterning TE thin-films 

on silicon for improved form factor, reduced system complexity, and superior thermal interfaces. 

1 
Figure 1. Conceptual schematic of a TE generator on silicon, where heat exchangers can be micromachined in 

silicon and integrated with MEMS sensors/actuators onto a single chip.

2. Sample Preparation 

In general, when selecting a material for a TE device, one desires three characteristics: (1) high 

electrical conductivity to minimize electrical resistance losses, (2) low thermal conductivity to 

maximize the temperature gradient across the material, and (3) a high Seebeck coefficient to 

maximize the thermal voltage. These properties are typically expressed as the so-called “figure 

of merit (Z)” (2): 

κ

⋅σα=

2

Z (1) 

where α is the Seebeck coefficient (V/K), σ is electrical conductivity (Ω-1m-1), and κ is thermal 

conductivity (Wm-1K-1). The figure of merit is plotted as a function of temperature in figure 2 

(2). Given that many energy scavenging applications are in the near-room temperature regime 

(0–150 °C), bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3)-based materials offer the highest potential performance. 

Other efforts on lead-telluride (PbTe)-based materials for higher temperature applications are 

being pursued through a collaboration with the University of Florida (3). 

Cold fluid 

V

Silicon SiO2 Metal Bi2Te3 Elec/thermal insulator 

Thermoelectric 

generator 

MEMS 

Sensor/Actuator 

Integrated 

μ-channels 

Heated Flow

Si heat 

exchanger 

2 
Figure 2. Figure of merit (Z) as a function of temperature for a variety of materials; for 

room temperature applications, Bi2Te3-based compounds are the obvious 

choice (2).

The samples used in this research started as 4-in <100> silicon wafers. A 1 μm thermal oxide 

was grown over the entire wafer to electrically insulate the TE device material from the silicon. 

Various metal pads were then defined using a standard lithography process (AZ5214) and lift-off 

in acetone (50 °C for 2 h). These patterned metal pads will eventually form bottom side 

interconnects between TE posts. After substrate cleaning in an RCA-1 bath to remove organic 

residue, the blanket Bi2Te3 films were grown using solid-source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). 

As deposited, the films were undoped, and growth rates of ~1 μm/h were demonstrated. Thus 

far, films as thick as 9 μm have been achieved (reactor time limited), although there appears to 

be no upper limit to the thickness and thicker films are planned for future devices. After film 

growth, the sample is coated with a thin photoresist layer to protect the Bi2Te3 during a dicing 

step, in which 15 by 15 mm dies are separated for processing. The protective photoresist layer is 

removed in a PRS-3000 photoresist stripper for 2 min at 80 °C. 

3 
3. Photolithography 

Before etching experiments could be undertaken, a photolithography step was used to create the 

appropriate pattern. Standard lithography recipes were adapted for this purpose. The best results 

were obtained using the following sequence: (1) spin coat AZ5214e at 1200 rpm for 30 s, 

(2) soft bake at 110 °C for 60 s, (3) contact exposure for 3.3 s, (4) reverse-image bake at120 °C 

for 30 s, (5) flood exposure for 5.5 s, and (6) develop for 60 s in AZ312MIF 1:1 DI. This 

resulted in a 2.8 μm thick photoresist layer in which features as small as 4 μm square were 

consistently defined. In general, the exposure times were the only parameters requiring 

significant attention, a fact largely attributed to the reduced reflectivity and increased light 

absorption of the polycrystalline Bi2Te3 surface compared to polished single crystal silicon. 

The primary problem encountered during lithography was delamination during the development 

step. As shown in figure 3, on/around areas with pre-patterned metal pads, the Bi2Te3 adhered, 

while in open areas with only bare SiO2 the film delaminated, likely from the lack of any 

chemical bonding to the surface. While figure 3 is an extreme case, such delamination is of little 

concern since most implementations will require metal underneath the Bi2Te3 post to serve as an 

electrical interconnect. In the future, the ability to grow single crystal Bi2Te3 directly on single 

crystal silicon may be investigated as an alternative means for improving film adhesion and 

doping at the expense of slightly more complicated system design. 

Bare 

SiO2

Nickel 

pads 

Remaining 

Bi2Te3 

100μm

Patterned 

photoresist 

Figure 3. Optical micrograph of a Bi2Te3 sample after lithography—the patterned photoresist squares are nicely 

defined; however, the development step has caused significant delamination of Bi2Te3 where metal is not 

present to anchor it down. 

4 
4. Wet Chemical Etching 

Wet chemical etching was first pursued due to its simplicity and availability. According to 

Dilberto et al. (4), a combination of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydrochloric acid (HCl), and 

de-ionized water (DI) has proven effective at etching Bi2Te3-based compounds. However, 

particular attention should be given to the compatibility of wet chemical etchants with other 

materials on the wafer. In this case, the H2O2:HCl:DI mix is essentially a diluted form of the 

standard RCA-2 clean, which would etch both the Bi2Te3 device material as well as the metal 

pad. As an alternative, Shafai and Brett (5) used a diluted combination of HCl and nitric acid 

(HNO3), a variant of the common “Aqua Regia.” Since we desire to use photoresist as the 

masking material for process flexibility, we used a diluted version of Aqua Regia (3 HCl:1 

HNO3:2 DI) that according to Williams et al. (6) should not attack photoresist appreciably. 

Vertical etch rates of ~0.5μm/min were achieved; however, the scanning electron microscope 

(SEM) images shown in figure 4 highlight that the horizontal undercut is >5 times the thickness. 

This fact indicates that there may be more exposed surface area in contact with the etchant 

because of, say, grain boundary effects and open voids within the material that causes the 

relatively fast lateral etch rate. While the grain structure and the presence of voids within the 

material can be improved in future growth studies, the best scenario for wet etching a 

polycrystalline material is still a 1:1 ratio of vertical to horizontal etch rates. Figure 4(a) also 

shows some residue that remained after the wet etch was performed. Energy-dispersive x-ray 

spectroscopy (EDX) analysis indicates this to be a carbon-based residue (7), likely from partial 

etching of the photoresist during immersion in the solution. Further dilution of the etchants 

could mitigate this effect (at the cost of etch rate), or the migration to a metal mask could be 

investigated. 

Thus, while the wet approach offers reasonable etch rates (>0.5μm/min) and requires very simple 

bench-top equipment, wet patterning must be limited to low aspect ratio structures. Since TE 

generators perform most efficiently at high aspect ratios, an alternative technique is necessary to 

pattern smaller features. 

5 
Bi2Te3

residue 

original mask 

pattern 

(a) (b) 

Figure 4. SEMs of wet etched Bi2Te3, showing (a) the large horizontal mask undercut and resulting residue that is 

quite evident and (b) a close-up of the resulting vertical sidewall.

5. Dry Plasma Etching 

Dry plasma etching should provide the desired vertical etch characteristics; however, achieving 

significant etch rates and good selectivity to a photoresist mask is typically challenging. In 

addition, the capital equipment required is both complicated and expensive. For this work, we 

used an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etch tool that allows independent tuning of the plasma 

density and ion energy. Literature reports show some success using common etch gasses (such 

as Ar, O2, CH4, etc.) with etch rates of ~60 nm/min (4). Combinations of CH4-H2 are often used 

for etching III-V devices in the same ICP chamber, and were therefore considered a good starting 

point. Each 15 by 15 mm die was mounted on bare 4-in silicon carrier wafers for handling by 

the system. 

Using established recipes as a guideline, the initial experiments were focused on understanding 

the basic dependence of the Bi2Te3 etch rates in different gas mixtures and pressures. For the gas 

mixture, an initial combination of 10 sccm of CH4, H2, and Ar was compared to 15 sccm CH4, 5 

sccm H2, and 15 sccm of Ar. In the latter mixture, it was expected that the increase in heavy Ar+ 

molecules bombarding the surface would promote ion-assisted etching, while an increase in CHx

radicals would increase chemical etching, leading to a dramatic increase in etch rate. The two 

pressure set-points were intended to investigate the tradeoffs between available etch species, 

average ion energy, and possible re-deposition of volatiles, all of which are known to affect the 

etch rate. 

6 
As shown in table 1, the initial recipe resulted in an etch rate of 0.22 μm/min, while changing the 

pressure and gas mixture successfully increased the etch rate to 0.66 μm/min, with pressure 

change having a greater influence than chemistry. This relatively high etch rate is important, 

because it represents a tenfold improvement over that reported in Dilberto et al. (4) and makes 

etching thick films (>10 μm) possible in realistic time. However, during this etch, we observed a 

selectivity of <5:1, meaning that the photoresist mask thickness must increase dramatically to 

etch thicker films, which in turn will reduce the resolution achievable in the resist. Therefore, a 

second round of experiments was devised to investigate improving the selectivity—a notoriously 

difficult property to control given that, for example, a change in ion energy effects the etch rates 

of both the Bi2Te3 and photoresist. We chose to vary the electrode power and pressure in an 

attempt to minimize ion bombardment on the photoresist while maintaining enough ion assisted 

etching of the Bi2Te3 to realize a significant overall etch rate. The gas combination of 15/5/15 

was employed for all cases and the results are shown in table 2. For the case of higher electrode 

power (100 W), the low pressure had a slightly higher selectivity, but a vastly lower etch rate. 

For the lower electrode power (50 W), the etch rate decreased only slightly while the selectivity 

effectively doubled. Thus, a final etch rate >0.5 μm/min with selectivity well above 10:1 was 

achieved through simple changes in gas mixture, electrode power, and pressure. The initial and 

final etch parameters are shown in table 3. 

Table 1. Measured etch rate (μm/min) as a function of chamber 

pressure and gas mixture (all at 100 W electrode power).

Pressure 

(mTorr)

Gas Mix 

CH4/H2/Ar 

(sccm) 10 20

10/10/10 0.22 0.47 

15/5/15 0.28 0.66

Table 2. Measured etch rates and selectivity to photoresist 

(PR) as a function of chamber pressure and electrode 

power (all using 15/5/15sccm of CH4/H2/Ar). 

6.5 5.0 

0.28 0.66 

100 

12.1 14.7 

0.24 

10 

Etch Rate 

 (μm/min) 

 Selectivity 

 (Bi2Te3:PR) 

0.56 

Electrode 50 

Power 

(W) 

20 

Pressure 

(mTorr) 

7 
Table 3. Initial and final etch recipe parameters.

Coil Power 

(W) 

Electrode 

Power 

(W) 

Chamber 

Pressure 

(mTorr) 

Gas Flow 

(sccm) 

CH4 H2 Ar

Initial 600 100 10 10 10 10

Final 600 50 20 15 5 15

SEM images of prototype TE posts on patterned metal features are shown in figure 5. Note the 

lack of residue and vertical sidewall profiles achieved, establishing this etching technique as a 

viable tool for fabricating micromachined TE legs. The developed techniques should enable 

scaling of similar structures to even thicker films, enabling improved performance of waste heat 

recovery systems. 

Figure 5. SEMs of etched Bi2Te3 posts on pre-patterned metal pads—note lack of residue on metal as well as the 

verticality of the sidewalls.

9μm

30μm

9μm

9μm

8 
6. Conclusion 

This research has demonstrated that Bi2Te3-based TE materials and devices can be monolithically 

integrated with silicon-based materials and MEMS most efficiently provided there is an 

“adherent” on the SiO2 surface. For this work, a base metal is highly successful and necessary 

for eventual device fabrication anyway. These Bi2Te3 TE thin-films can be reliably patterned 

using the existing, large technology infrastructure available within silicon processing facilities. 

Experiments have shown that high etch rates (>0.5 μm/min) and photoresist selectivity (>10:1) 

can be achieved through straight-forward process modifications. Future work will concentrate 

on using these fabrication techniques to create characterization structures in order to measure and 

optimize the TE properties of these films.

9 
10 

References 

1. Venkatasubramanian , R. et al. Microscale thermoelectric devices for energy harvesting and 

thermal management. Proceedings of Power MEMS 2006, Berkeley, CA, 2006, pp 1–4. 

2. Rowe, D. M. CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics, CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 1995. 

3. Boniche, I. et al. Progress towards a micromachined thermoelectric generator using PbTe 

and PbSnSeTe thin films. Proceedings of Power MEMS 2006, Berkeley, CA, 2006, pp195–

199. 

4. Dilberto, S. et al. A technology for a device prototyping based on electrodeposited 

thermoelectric V-VI layers. 22nd International Conference on Thermoelectrics, 2003, pp 

661–664. 

5. Shafai, C.; Brett, M. J. A Micro-Integrated Peltier Heat Pump for Localized On-Chip 

Temperature Control, Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, 26–

29 May 1996, 88–91. 

6. Williams, K. et al. Etch Rates for Micromachining Processing – Part II. J. of 

Microelectromechanical Systems December 2003, 12, (6), 761–777. 

7. Taylor, P. J.: Lee, U.; Morgan, B.; Dhar, N. K. Analysis of Residues Resulting From Etching 

Micro-scale Thermoelectric MEMS; ARL-TR-4135; U.S. Army Research Laboratory: 

Adelphi MD, May 2007. 
Acronyms 

ARL U.S. Army Research Laboratory 

BaF barium fluoride 

Bi2Te3 bismuth telluride 

cTTL clandestine tagging, tracking, and locating 

DI de-ionized 

EDX energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy 

GaAs gallium arsenide 

H2O2 hydrogen peroxide 

HCl hydrochloric acid 

HNO3 nitric acid 

ICP inductively coupled plasma 

MBE molecular beam epitaxy 

MEMS micro-electro-mechanical systems 

PbTe lead-telluride 

SEM scanning electron microscope 

TE thermoelectric

11 
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