Thermoelectric properties of Al-doped Mg2Si thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering

The Al-doped Mg2Si thin films were fabricated by two-target alternative magnetron sputtering technique, and the influences of different Al doping contents on the thermoelectric properties of Al-doped Mg2Si thin films were investigated. The compositions, crystal structures, electronic transport properties and thermoelectric properties of the thin films were examined using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Hall coefficient measurement and Seebeck coefficient measurement system, respectively. The EDS results show that the thin films doped with Al target sputtering power of 30 W, 60 W and 90 W have the Al content of 0.68 at.%, 1.56 at.% and 2.85 at.%, respectively. XRD results indicate that the diffraction peaks of Mg2Si become stronger with increasing Al dopant. The results of Hall coefficient measurement and Seebeck coefficient measurement system reveal that all the samples are n-type. The conductivities of Al-doped Mg2Si thin films are significantly greater than that of undoped Mg2Si thin film, and increase with increasing Al doping content. With the increase of temperature, the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficients of Mg2Si base thin films increase firstly and then decrease. The maximum power factor obtained is 3.8 mW m−1 k−2 for 1.56 at.% Al-doped Mg2Si thin film at 573 K.