Observation of anomalous electrical transport properties in MoSi2 films

Abstract

We measured the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity and of the Hall constant for MoSi2 films between 3.5 and 350 K. A behavior quite unusual for a metal was observed. The most striking effect is the proportionality of the resistivity with T 2 for temperatures between 70 and 220 K. Further, we find the Hall constant, which is positive at room temperature, to change sign around 170 K. The bulk resistivity of the MoSi2 at 295 K is deduced to be approximately 18 μΩ cm. We suggest that the observed anomalies and the high resistivity are due to strong s-d scattering.