Structural and thermoelectric properties ofFeSb3skutterudite thin films

Skutterudites are promising materials for future thermoelectric applications. Whereas the skutterudite ${\text{CoSb}}_{3}$ is intensively studied, very few investigations for ${\text{FeSb}}_{3}$ are performed due to its metastable character and the comparably low decomposition temperature. In this work, single-phase ${\text{FeSb}}_{3}$ thin films were prepared by codeposition of Fe and Sb using molecular beam epitaxy at room temperature followed by postannealing. The transport properties of a Fe-Sb composition series were determined and reveal high power factors ${S}^{2}\ensuremath{\sigma}$ up to $14\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{K}}^{2}\mathrm{cm}$. Furthermore, the structural parameters, the electronic structure, and the transport parameters were calculated by density functional theory, giving excellent agreement with the experimental data.