PHONON-DRAG EFFECT OF ULTRA-THIN FeSi2 AND MnSi1.7/FeSi2 FILMS

Abstract

Phonon-drag effect usually occurs in single crystals at very low temperatures (10–200 K). Strong phonon-drag effect is observed in ultra-thin β- FeSi 2 films at around room temperature. The Seebeck coefficient of a 23 nm-thick β- FeSi 2 film can reach -1.375 mV/K at 343 K. However, the thermoelectric power factor of the film is still small, only 0.42×10-3 W/m-K2, due to its large electrical resistivity. When a 27 nm-thick MnSi 1.7 film with low electrical resistivity is grown on it, the thermoelectric power factor of the MnSi 1.7 film can reach 1.5×10-3 W/m-K2 at around room temperature. This value is larger than that of bulk MnSi 1.7 material in the same temperature range.