Two groups of Mg-Sn thin films were deposited by magnetron co-sputtering of Mg, Sn, and Cu targets. Group I was Mg-Sn films with [Mg]/[Sn] = 2 and group II with [Mg]/[Sn] = 1.75. The effect of Mg-deficiency and Cu-doping on the structure and thermoelectric properties was investigated. Both groups were doped by different Cu concentrations (0 at.%, 0.5 at.%, and 1.5 at.%). The structure and morphology of the thin films were investigated. The stable face-centered cubic structure was only observed for undoped film of group I, while a mixture of facecentered cubic and metastable orthorhombic structures coexisted for other samples whatever the Cu content. Carrier concentration and mobility were measured to explain the electronic transport behaviors of the films. The bandgap energy for both groups was estimated by the Kubelka-Munk's method. The influence of the Mg deficiency and Cu doping on the thermoelectric properties was discussed for a range of temperatures: 30-200°C. For both groups, the best figure-of-merit, ZT, was obtained at 200°C for samples doped with 0.5 at.% Cu with ZT = 0.07 for group I and ZT = 0.27 for group II.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.