Using molecular beam epitaxy techniques, we demonstrate the growth of thin-film Fe2VAl with a stoichiometric chemical composition. Even for a low-temperature-grown Fe2VAl film, the electrical properties are similar to those of bulk Fe2VAl reported previously. We note that the Seebeck coefficient (S) is slightly larger (∼40 µV/K) and the thermal conductivity (κ) is smaller [∼7.5 W/(m·K)] than those of bulk Fe2VAl [S = 30 µV/K, κ = 25 W/(m·K)]. This study shows that thermoelectric Fe2VAl films with relatively high performance compared to bulk Fe2VAl can be developed for potential applications.

We study the effect of Fe–V nonstoichiometry on electrical and thermoelectric properties of Fe2VAl films. We find that temperature dependence of electrical resistivity and carrier type for Fe2−xV1+xAl films are similar to those for bulk samples reported previously. In addition, the electrical and thermoelectric properties can be modulated by varying x. These results indicate that the electronic band structure having a pseudo gap at around the Fermi level is demonstrated even in thin-film Fe2VAl samples. This study will lead to further improvement in thermoelectric properties of the thin-film Fe2VAl.

We achieved substantially low thermal conductivity by introducing some crystal disorder into complex material BaSi2 films on Si substrates for realization of a high-performance thermoelectric material. The BaSi2 films/Si exhibited a low thermal conductivity of 0.96 W m−1 K−1 without nanostructuring, which is less than about two-thirds value of bulk BaSi2 and is the lowest among ecofriendly silicide materials. This substantially low thermal conductivity was brought by both the use of complex material with intrinsically low phonon group velocity and the introduction of point defects as the crystal disorder. The first-principles calculations revealed that the point defect modulates the phonon dispersion relation lowering longitudinal acoustic phonon group velocity. However, the transverse acoustic phonon group velocity was increased at the same time, resulting in a negligible change in average acoustic phonon group velocity. This indicated that the crystal disorder effect related to point defects in this system is enhancement of phonon scattering, not lowering phonon group velocity. The BaSi2 films/Si with point defects exhibited a higher thermoelectric power factor (2.9 μW cm−1 K−2) than bulk BaSi2. These results highlight that complex material BaSi2 film/Si with point defects, having substantially low thermal conductivity, is a candidate as a thermoelectric power generator material in the sensor network.

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We developed an advanced 2ω method for thermal conductivity (κ) measurements that is also applicable to samples with a wide range of thicknesses, to which the flash method cannot be applied. The conventional 2ω method, which features a simple setup combined with thermoreflectance, is a κ measurement method for thin films on substrates. However, it is difficult to apply this method to bulk substrate samples without films because of the interfacial thermal resistance between the transducer metal film and the substrate. In the advanced 2ω method, the interfacial thermal resistance becomes negligible due to the coating of a bulk sample with a high-thermal-resistance film. We measured the κ values of various bulk samples (Si, Ge, fused quartz, and TiO2). Moreover, the κ value of thin (0.3-mm) bulk Si substrates, which is difficult to measure using the conventional flash method for bulk materials because of the high thermal diffusivity, could be measured. This study demonstrates that the range of sample thickness for the 2ω method is extended from thin films to bulk materials.