Large low-field positive magnetoresistance in nonmagnetic half-Heusler ScPtBi single crystal

TL;DR

This study reports on the synthesis and characterization of nonmagnetic ScPtBi single crystals, revealing large low-field magnetoresistance and high mobility, with potential applications in magnetic sensors and insights into half-Heusler compounds.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed analysis of magnetoresistance and transport properties of nonmagnetic ScPtBi single crystals, highlighting their potential for sensor applications.

Findings

Large low-field magnetoresistance up to 240% at 2K

High mobility over a wide temperature range

Field-induced metal-semiconductor transition and weak-antilocalization effects

Abstract

High-quality nonmagnetic half-Heusler ScPtBi single crystals were synthesized by a Bi self-flux method. This compound was revealed to be a hole-dominated semimetal with a large low-field magnetoresistance up to 240% at 2K in a magnetic field of 1T. Magneto-transport measurements demonstrated that the large low-field magnetoresistance effect resulted from the coexistence of field-induced metal-semiconductor transition and weak-antilocalization effect. Moreover, Hall measurements indicated that ScPtBi single crystal showed a high mobility over a wide temperature region even up to room temperature (4050 cm2V-1s-1 at 2K - 2016 cm2V-1s-1 at 300K). These findings not only suggest the nonmagnetic ScPtBi semimetal a potential material candidate for applications in high-sensitivity magnetic sensors, but also are of great significance to comprehensively understand the rare-earth based half-Heusler compounds.