Nano-scale higher manganese suicide (MnSi1.7) film with thickness of about 27 nm is prepared by thermal annealing of a bi-layer Si/MnSix (x < 1.7) at 650 degrees C. When the thermal annealing time is 25 min, the film is p-type from 300 K to 633 K. By increasing the thermal annealing time to 65 min, the film is still p-type around room temperature but transforms to n-type at high temperatures. The thermoelectric powers at 300 K and 633 K are +116 mu V K-1 and -321 mu V K-1, respectively. With addition of enough iron to the film, n-type MnSi1.7 film with lower electrical resistivity is obtained. The thermoelectric power reaches to -568 mu V K-1 at 533 K. As a result, the thermoelectric power factor of the nano-scale n-type Mnsi(1.7) film at 533 K is 3.6 x 10(-3) W m(-1) K-2. This value is greater than that of p-type bulk MnSi1.7 materials. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.