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

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 2 K in a magnetic field of 1 T. 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 2 K–2016 cm2V−1s−1 at 300 K). 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.