The solid-phase ion-plasma method and thermoelectric properties of thin CrSi2 films

Thin films of CrSi 2 of various thicknesses, deposited on the Si(111) surface using magnetron sputtering, have been examined through a combination of electron spectroscopy and microscopy techniques. In this article, the mechanism of film formation by sputtering in very short times by the method of magnetron sputtering was studied. In addition, the electrophysical and thermoelectric properties of the formed film were studied for the first time in the article. For the first time, the composition, surface morphology, and cross-section of the thin films, as well as the temperature dependences of the resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor have been investigated. In the article, a SiO 2 substrate on the Si(111) surface was used to form a CrSi 2 film. This substrate was chosen due to its temperature resistance and good dielectric properties. The following articles provide information on weekubstrates for growing structures, their formation, and thermoelectric properties (Noroozi et al. in ECS J Solid State Sci, 6:Q114, 2017; Muhammad et al. in Chem Papers, 77:6533–6542, 2023; Alhadhrami et al. in J Taibah Univ Sci, 17:2236368, 2023). It is proven that an amorphous CrSi 2 film entirely covers the SiO 2 /Si(111) surface, starting at a thickness of ~ 400 Å (deposition time ~ 60 s). A homogeneous polycrystalline CrSi 2 /SiO 2 /Si(111) film is created after heating the CrSi 2 /SiO 2 /Si(111) system to a temperature of approximately 750 K. It is demonstrated that for a CrSi 2 /SiO 2 /Si(111) film with varying thicknesses (80 and 180 nm), the resistivity ρ , the power factor P , and the Seebeck coefficient S change nonlinearly with increasing temperature. For CrSi 2 films with varying thicknesses, their values are marginally different from one another. In particular, it was found that with increasing T , the resistivity ρ of the polycrystalline film decreases, while the Seebeck coefficient S increases. It is demonstrated that the excitation of electrons from hybridized 3p levels of Si and 4 s and 3d levels of Cr results in three peaks in the photoelectron spectrum.