The resistivity and thermopower of amorphous Mg-Zn alloys

Abstract
The resistivity and thermopower of amorphous Mg-Zn alloys have been computed as a function of temperature and composition. The diffraction model incorporating the dynamical partial structure factors is applied. The effect of the electron mean free path is investigated. The authors find that the resistivity is well described by the model, and that the inclusion of the mean free path does not change the results considerably. In the case of thermopower the diffraction model turns out to be inadequate: it gives a composition dependence which is against the experimental evidence. This suggests that there exists another scattering mechanism, which is not accounted for by the diffraction model. The choice of the various parameters of the model is discussed.