Anisotropy and large magnetoresistance in the narrow-gap semiconductorFeSb2

Abstract

A study of the anisotropy in magnetic, transport, and magnetotransport properties of ${\mathrm{FeSb}}_2$ has been made on large single crystals grown from Sb flux. Magnetic susceptibility of ${\mathrm{FeSb}}_2$ shows diamagnetic to paramagnetic crossover around 100 K. Electrical transport along two axes is semiconducting, whereas the third axis exhibits a metal-semiconductor crossover at temperature $T_{\mathrm{cr}}$ which is sensitive to current alignment and ranges between 40 and 80 K. In $H=70\mathrm{}\mathrm{kOe}$ semiconducting transport is restored for $T<\mathrm{}300\mathrm{}\mathrm{K},$ resulting in large magnetoresistance $\left[\rho \right(70\mathrm{}\mathrm{kOe}\left)-\rho \mathrm{}\right(0\left)\mathrm{}\right]/\rho \mathrm{}\left(0\right)=2200\%$ in the crossover temperature range.