Improving the thermoelectric performance of scandium nitride thin films by implanting helium ions

Hugo Bouteiller; Razvan Burcea; Charlotte Poterie; Danièle Fournier; Fabien Giovannelli; Johan Nyman; Younès Ezzahri; Sylvain Dubois; Per Eklund; Arnaud le Febvrier; Jean François Barbot

doi:10.1038/s43246-025-00741-2

Improving the thermoelectric performance of scandium nitride thin films by implanting helium ions

Hugo Bouteiller
, Razvan Burcea
, Charlotte Poterie
, Danièle Fournier
, Fabien Giovannelli
, Johan Nyman
, Younès Ezzahri
, Sylvain Dubois
, Per Eklund
, Arnaud le Febvrier
, Jean François Barbot

Applied Microanalysis and Thermophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Ion implantation is a widely used technique to introduce defects in low-dimensional materials and tune their properties. Here, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of scandium nitride thin films implanted with helium ions, revealing a positive impact of defect engineering on thermoelectric performance. Transport properties modeling and electron microscopy provide insights on the defect distribution in the films. The electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient increase significantly in absolute values after implantation and partially recover upon annealing as some of the implantation-induced defects heal. The thermal conductivity decreases by 46 % post- implantation due to the formation of extended defects and nanocavities. Consequently, the thermoelectric figure of merit zT doubles for the sample annealed at 673 K. These findings highlight the potential of controlled ion implantation to enhance thermoelectric properties in thin films, paving the way for further optimization through defect engineering.

Original language	English
Article number	30
Journal	Communications Materials
Volume	6
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43246-025-00741-2
State	Published - Dec 2025

Funding

Dominique Eyidi is acknowledged for his assistance regarding TEM characterizations. This work was supported by the French government program “Investissements d’Avenir” (EUR INTREE ‒ reference ANR-18-EURE-0010, LABEX INTERACTIFS ‒ reference ANR-11-LABEX-0017-01, and UP-SQUARED ‒ reference ANR-21-EXES-0013). The authors also acknowledge funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR) under Project No. 2021-03826, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation through the Wallenberg Academy Fellows program (grant no. KAW 2020.0196), the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linköping University (Faculty Grant SFO-Mat-LiU No. 2009 00971), and the Swedish Energy Agency under project 46519-1. Accelerator operation was supported by Swedish Research Council VR-RFI (Contract No. 2019-00191).

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10.1038/s43246-025-00741-2

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title = "Improving the thermoelectric performance of scandium nitride thin films by implanting helium ions",

abstract = "Ion implantation is a widely used technique to introduce defects in low-dimensional materials and tune their properties. Here, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of scandium nitride thin films implanted with helium ions, revealing a positive impact of defect engineering on thermoelectric performance. Transport properties modeling and electron microscopy provide insights on the defect distribution in the films. The electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient increase significantly in absolute values after implantation and partially recover upon annealing as some of the implantation-induced defects heal. The thermal conductivity decreases by 46 \% post- implantation due to the formation of extended defects and nanocavities. Consequently, the thermoelectric figure of merit zT doubles for the sample annealed at 673 K. These findings highlight the potential of controlled ion implantation to enhance thermoelectric properties in thin films, paving the way for further optimization through defect engineering.",

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T1 - Improving the thermoelectric performance of scandium nitride thin films by implanting helium ions

AU - Bouteiller, Hugo

AU - Burcea, Razvan

AU - Poterie, Charlotte

AU - Fournier, Danièle

AU - Giovannelli, Fabien

AU - Nyman, Johan

AU - Ezzahri, Younès

AU - Dubois, Sylvain

AU - Eklund, Per

AU - le Febvrier, Arnaud

AU - Barbot, Jean François

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - Ion implantation is a widely used technique to introduce defects in low-dimensional materials and tune their properties. Here, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of scandium nitride thin films implanted with helium ions, revealing a positive impact of defect engineering on thermoelectric performance. Transport properties modeling and electron microscopy provide insights on the defect distribution in the films. The electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient increase significantly in absolute values after implantation and partially recover upon annealing as some of the implantation-induced defects heal. The thermal conductivity decreases by 46 % post- implantation due to the formation of extended defects and nanocavities. Consequently, the thermoelectric figure of merit zT doubles for the sample annealed at 673 K. These findings highlight the potential of controlled ion implantation to enhance thermoelectric properties in thin films, paving the way for further optimization through defect engineering.

AB - Ion implantation is a widely used technique to introduce defects in low-dimensional materials and tune their properties. Here, we investigate the thermoelectric properties of scandium nitride thin films implanted with helium ions, revealing a positive impact of defect engineering on thermoelectric performance. Transport properties modeling and electron microscopy provide insights on the defect distribution in the films. The electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient increase significantly in absolute values after implantation and partially recover upon annealing as some of the implantation-induced defects heal. The thermal conductivity decreases by 46 % post- implantation due to the formation of extended defects and nanocavities. Consequently, the thermoelectric figure of merit zT doubles for the sample annealed at 673 K. These findings highlight the potential of controlled ion implantation to enhance thermoelectric properties in thin films, paving the way for further optimization through defect engineering.

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Improving the thermoelectric performance of scandium nitride thin films by implanting helium ions

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