Fabrication and thermoelectric property of Mn-doped CoSb3 thin films

We have prepared Mn-doped CoSb3 thin films by the annealing of ion-beam sputtered Co/Mn/Sb multi-layers at 673 K for Ih in vacuum, and studied the effects of the amount of doped Mn on the thermoelectric properties of the films. Mn atoms are assumed to he substituted for Co sites since the Mn-doped samples indicated no apparent shifts in the lattice parameter from the non-doped sample obtained by X-ray diffraction. Thermoelectric properties of the thin films were evaluated by measuring DC conductivity and Seebeck coefficients at elevated temperatures. The non-doped CoSb3 samples showed a p-type semiconducting character with the conductivity of about 7 x 10(3)/Omegam irrespective of their chemical composition to be Sb-rich or Sb-deficient. The Seebeck coefficient of the sample was about 160 muV/K at 540 K. In contrast, the samples doped with 1-2 at%Mn exhibited a rather low conductivity of about Ix 10(3)/Omegam and their conduction behavior was changed to n-type with the Seebeck coefficient of about - 70 muV/K at 500 K.