Doping-induced magnetism in the semiconducting B20 compound RuGe

TL;DR

This study investigates how doping RuGe with cobalt induces magnetic properties and alters its electronic transport, revealing similarities to other magnetic semiconductors and skyrmion-hosting materials.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Co doping in RuGe induces magnetic order and modifies electronic transport, a novel finding for this semiconducting B20 compound.

Findings

Magnetic order appears at low Co doping levels with T_c around 5-9 K.

Electrical resistivity decreases moderately with doping.

Magnetization and transport properties resemble those of FeCoSi.

Abstract

RuGe, a diamagnetic small-band gap semiconductor, and CoGe, a nonmagnetic semimetal, are both isostructural to the Kondo insulator FeSi and the skyrmion lattice host MnSi. Here, we have explored the magnetic and transport properties of Co-doped RuGe: Ru$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Ge. For small values of $x$, a magnetic ground state emerges with $T_{c}\approx$ 5 $-$ 9 K, which is accompanied by a moderate decrease in electrical resistivity and a Seebeck coefficient that indicates electron-like charge carriers. The magnetization, magnetoresistance, and the specific heat capacity all resemble that of Fe$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Si for similar Co substitution levels, suggesting that Ru$_{1-x}$Co$_x$Ge hosts equally as interesting magnetic and charge carrier transport properties.