Investigation of the Magnesium Silicide -- Mg2Si Films

Abstract

The silicides are ecologically friendly materials and they have a mechanical stability to corrosion, oxidation, decay and aggressive environments. It is known that a bulk magnesium silicide - Mg2Si demonstrates semiconductor conductivity n-type character with energy band gap Eg=0.78 eV and solid solution based on the Mg2Si-Mg2Sn have figure of merit of ZT>1 [Samsonov, et. al. 1979]. Only small part of articles has devoted to thin Mg2Si films on silicon. In this work the magnesium silicide films have been grown on silicon substrate by reactive diffusion method and their thermoelectric properties were investigated