Epitaxial growth of Ba8Ga16Ge30 clathrate film on Si substrate by RF helicon magnetron sputtering with evaluation on thermoelectric properties

Epitaxial Ba8Ga16Ge30 clathrate thin films were successfully grown on Si substrate by using helicon magnetron sputtering. The (1 0 0) lattice of Ba8Ga16Ge30 was identified grown on four Si(2 0 0) lattices in small mismatch (0.1%). Both the color of samples and XRD results suggest 600 °C is the optimal substrate temperature for the growth of high quality Ba–Ga–Ge clathrate film on Si substrates. High Seebeck coefficients and electrical resistivities for the deposited clathrate thin films in comparison with those of bulk are obtained. The high crystal quality and thermionic effects in heterostructures may contribute to the larger Seebeck coefficients, while the increasing of interface scattering for electrons probably is the reason for large electrical resistivities. Although the thermoelectric (TE) results are not ideal as designed, our results are significant due to the first successful work on epitaxial growth of Ba8Ga16Ge30 clathrate thin films on Si substrate with large Seebeck coefficient.