Transport properties of the II–V semiconductor ZnSb

Abstract

The intermetallic compound ZnSb is an electron poor (II–V) semiconductor with interesting thermoelectric properties. Electrical resistivity, thermopower and thermal conductivity were measured on single crystalline and various polycrystalline specimens. The work establishes the presence of impurity band conduction as an intrinsic phenomenon of ZnSb. The impurity band governs electrical transport properties at temperatures up to 300–400 K after which ZnSb becomes an intrinsic conductor. Furthermore this work establishes an inherently low lattice thermal conductivity of ZnSb, which is comparable to the state-of-the-art thermoelectric material PbTe. It is argued that the impurity band relates to the presence of Zn defects and the low thermal conductivity to the electron-poor bonding properties of ZnSb.