Physical Properties of Half-Heusler Antiferromagnet MnPtSn Single Crystal*

Abstract

We report the growth of ternary half-Heusler MnPtSn single crystals and detailed study on its structural and physical properties. MnPtSn single crystal has a larger lattice parameter than that in polycrystal and it exhibits antiferromagnetism with transition temperature T N at about 215 K, distinctly different from the ferromagnetism of MnPtSn polycrystal. Hall resistivity measurement indicates that the dominant carriers are hole-type and the nearly temperature-independent carrier concentration reaches about 2.86 × 1022 cm−3 at 5 K. Moreover, the carrier mobility is also rather low (4.7 cm2⋅V−1s−1 at 5 K). The above results strongly suggest that the significant Mn/Sn anti-site defects, i.e., the content of Mn in MnPtSn single crystal, play a vital role on structural, magnetic and transport properties.