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Acta Metall Sin  2019, Vol. 55 Issue (11): 1469-1476    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2019.00115
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Microstructure and Electric Conductance of Mg2(Sn, Si) Thin Films by Sputtering
SONG Guihong1(),LI Guipeng1,LIU Qiannan1,DU Hao2(),HU Fang1
1. School of Materials Science and Technology, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870, China
2. Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Cite this article: 

SONG Guihong,LI Guipeng,LIU Qiannan,DU Hao,HU Fang. Microstructure and Electric Conductance of Mg2(Sn, Si) Thin Films by Sputtering. Acta Metall Sin, 2019, 55(11): 1469-1476.

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Abstract  

The Mg content in Mg2(Sn, Si) films obtained by PVD method often deviates its stoichiometric composition due to the easy evaporation of Mg in low pressure. In order to control the Mg content in Mg2(Sn, Si) lattice and achieve enhancements in thermoelectric efficiency, The Mg-Sn-Si-Bi thin films were deposited on single Si(111) substrate using a Mg-Sn-Si-Bi alloy target and a high pure Mg target by magnetron sputtering alternately. The results show that the Mg content greatly increases, while contents of both Sn and Si decrease in the films with the increasing sputtering time of the Mg target. The thin films possess single cubic Mg2(Sn, Si) solution phase as the Mg content (atomic fraction) is in the range from 71.437% to 64.497%, the Mg2(Sn, Si) solution phase disappear and both of Mg2Sn and Mg2Si phases occur as the Mg content decreases below 59.813% in the films. Furthermore, the Mg2Sn phase decomposes and metal Sn occurs as the Mg content in the films decreases to 54.006%. The metal Sn content increases and the Mg2Sn phase content decreases with the decreasing Mg content in the films, accompanying the near invariable Mg2Sn phase content. XPS spectrum data show that Mg exhibits the tendency to lose electrons. However, the Sn, Si and Bi exhibit the tendency to obtain electrons in deposited films. It is indicated that the Mg-Sn-Si-Bi thin film with single cubic solution phase possesses higher conductivity due to its higher carrier concentration and higher mobility. The mobility greatly decreases due to the occurrence of metal Sn in the films, thus the conductivity of the films greatly decreases.

Key words:  Mg2(Sn      Si) film      Mg content      conductivity      mobility      XPS     
Received:  12 April 2019     
ZTFLH:  TB383  
Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(51772193)

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2019.00115     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2019/V55/I11/1469

Fig.1  XRD spectra of deposited films with different sputtering time of Mg target

Sample

No.

t

s

Atomic fraction / %
MgOSiSnBiSn in compoundMetal Sn
S18071.4374.5617.09312.9553.95212.955-
S27064.4979.9057.75716.5571.28316.557-
S36059.81311.0116.12121.7461.30621.746-
S45054.00615.0806.41123.6110.89113.18010.431
S54048.37415.8878.55826.3330.84714.05412.279
S63043.37521.3748.95725.6880.6049.08116.607
Table 1  The element contents of deposited films under different sputtering time of Mg target (t)
Fig.2  Surface morphologis of the deposited films with different sputtering time of Mg target(a) S1 (b) S2 (c) S3 (d) S4 (e) S5 (f) S6
Fig.3  XPS of the deposited S1 sample(a) Mg1s (b) Sn3d (c) Si2p (d) Bi4f
Fig.4  XPS spectra of O1s of the deposited S1 sample
Fig.5  The transmissivity of the deposited S1 sample

Sample

No.

Hall coefficient

cm3·C-1

Bulk concentration

cm-3

Conductivity

S·cm-1

Mobility

cm2·V-1·s-1

S14.68×10-41.38×10224.43×10420.7
S29.48×10-47.18×10216.92×10465.4
S37.72×10-48.13×10216.20×10447.9
S42.10×10-37.83×10214.09×10432.6
S53.12×10-32.00×10213.62×10311.3
S64.09×10-21.53×10211.63×1026.7
Table 2  The Hall coefficient, concentration, conductivity and mobility of carriers in deposited films
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