Transport properties of the skutterudite CoSb/sub 3/

We prepared single crystals of CoSb/sub 3/ by chemical vapor transport and from Sb-rich melt. We performed measurements of the resistivity, the Hall-effect and thermoelectric power over a large temperature range. The observed temperature dependence of the Hall-coefficient can be explained on the basis of an acceptor impurity band and an additional deep acceptor level. The values of the activation energies of the shallow and deep accepters, concentrations, as well as the concentrations compensating donors were calculated. The contributions of different scattering mechanisms were determined on the basis of many available parameters from the literature and our own measurements. It is shown, that the scattering due to polar and nonpolar optical phonons is the dominant process at high temperatures. The value of the valence band deformation potential is estimated.