In order to control the electrical properties of an evaporated BaSi 2 film, which is an emerging candidate for the absorber-layer material of earth-abundant thin-film solar cells, we have investigated the effects of deposition rate on the produced phases, microstructure, and carrier density of the thin films grown by thermal evaporation of BaSi 2. X-ray diffraction results show that a high substrate temperature is necessary for BaSi 2 formation at a high deposition rate, which is discussed from viewpoints of vapor composition and diffusion time. Microstructural characteristics such as grain size of 30-120 nm, oxide particle arrays present around the interface, and partial oxidation at a low substrate temperature are revealed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy combined with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. With increasing deposition rate, the crystalline quality of BaSi 2 is found to improve, as evidenced by a decrease in full-width at half maximum of a [Si 4 ] 4À vibration band in Raman spectra. At the same time, electron density, which is determined by Hall measurement, decreases with deposition rate. The variation of electron density is discussed on the basis of microstructural characteristics and BaSi 2 formation mechanism. The most probable reason is concluded to be composition deviation from stoichiometry.