Semiconductor-insulator transition in a YbB6 nanowire with boron vacancy

Publication date: June 2018 Source:Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Volume 262 Author(s): Wei Han, Zhen Wang, Qidong Li, Xin Lian, Xudong Liu, Qinghua Fan, Yanming Zhao In this paper, we report the study of transport and magnetic properties of ytterbium hexaboride (YbB6) nanowires grown by a low trigger-temperature (200–240 °C) solid state method. The temperature dependence of resistivity shows that the YbB6 nanowire undergoes a semiconductor-insulator transition (SIT) below 20 K with an activation energy ΔE of 1 meV. The value of ρ at 2 K reaches 49 times the value of ρ at 300 K (ρ 2 K/ρ 300 K = 49). The observed non-saturating magnetoresistance (MR) has a linear relationship with B 2. The anomalous electronic transport in the YbB6 nanowire can be explained by the mixed valence of Yb ions due to the boron deficiency supporting by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and paramagnetic magnetization. Graphical abstract
Source: Journal of Solid State Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research