High thermoelectric power factors in sputter-deposited polycrystalline n-type BaSi2 films

Abstract We formed n-type polycrystalline semiconducting BaSi 2 films on insulating silicon nitride films by sputtering and investigated their electrical and thermoelectric properties. The electron concentration of the grown films was approximately 10 15 –10 16 cm −3 at room temperature, and the electron mobility was higher than 10 3 cm 2 V −1 s −1 despite the polycrystalline films being randomly oriented. The films contained a large concentration of oxygen (1.5 × 10 21 cm −3 ). A large thermoelectric power factor of 386 μ W m −1 K −2 was obtained at 309 K for B-doped n-BaSi 2 films. This value is approximately 8.6 times higher than the previous highest power factor reported for n-BaSi 2 .