Résumé
-CuI and Mg doped CuCrO2 are large band gap p-type semiconductors with pretty good transport properties. It is the reason why it is studied for various kind of applications such as Transparent Conducting electrode, p-n Junctions, Photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric modules. The -CuI thin films was obtained after a first step of Cu deposition on glass followed by an iodination step while the delafossite CuCrO2 films were deposited directly from Mg doped CuCrO2 target using RF magnetron sputtering and a thermal treatment of stabilization was applied on the films. The composition, structural and microstructural properties were systematically studied in the aim to optimize the thermal treatment of stabilization which allowed to have stabilized transport properties. A domain of annealing temperature was determined. As result, an electrical conductivity of 1 S/cm order were obtained with relatively high Seebeck coefficients which evolves differently with the temperature for -CuI and CuCrO2 (degenerated semiconductor and hopping conduction behaviors respectively). The transport properties where discussed in term of atomic defects in the structure. Combining the optical and the thermoelectric properties, a new figure of merit called COPTTE has been suggested and allowed to quantify the Transparent ThermoElectric (TTE) performances of our -CuI and CuCrO2 thin films in comparison with the literature [1]. Due to the interesting p-type transparent thermoelectric performances, planar unitracks thin films modules were developed and optimized by simulation in term of tracks length and their number. The experimental performances were compared to the simulations and have allowed to determine the contact electrical resistance contribution in the CuI devices. As results, in the case of CuI, optimal transparent thermoelectric module consisted of 3 -CuI unitracks of 950 nm thick reached an output electrical power of 60 nW with an applied temperature of 180°C in free temperature gradient using (which also correspond to a temperature gradient of about 130°C) [2].-CuI shows interesting transport and optical properties which target it as a potential good candidate for future better performant transparent thermoelectric applications while CuCrO2 films are more adapted for accurate temperature sensors due to its constant high Seebeck coefficient [3].