Electrical and thermoelectric properties of the intermetallic FeGa3

The transport properties including electrical resistivity (ρ), thermal conductivity (κ), as well as Seebeck coefficient (S) of intermetallic FeGa3 have been measured as a function of temperature between 10 and 300 K. The electrical resistivity exhibits metallic behavior in the temperature range we investigated. The thermal conductivity is approximately 6 W/m K at room temperature, and is mainly governed by the lattice thermal conductivity. The observed Seebeck coefficient is positive, indicating p-type carriers dominating the thermoelectric transport for FeGa3. In addition, the Fermi level of 0.14 eV measured from the top of valence band was estimated. These observations are in contrast with the reported semiconducting behavior for this compound, presumably attributed to the off-stoichiometric effect on the electronic band structure of FeGa3.