Effects of MeV Si ions bombardment on the thermoelectric properties of Zn4Sb3 and CeFe2Co2Sb12 thin films

We deposited monolayer thin films of Zn4Sb3 and CeFe2Co2Sb12 on 100 nm thick silicon dioxide coated Si substrates with 383 nm and 384 nm thickness respectively, using electron beam evaporation. Following the electron deposition, we performed post ion bombardment at a constant energy of 5 MeV while varying fluence from 1012–1015 ions/cm2. The Si ions bombardment modified the electrical and phonon interactions in the material by causing the changes at the thermoelectric properties as well. We also report on the fluence dependence of the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT, Seebeck Coefficient, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity. In addition, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) was used to analyze the elemental composition and the thickness of the deposited material. The thickness of each film was also specified by interferometer measurements.