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Single crystals of intermediate valent EuPd 2 Si 2 were grown from an Eu-rich melt by the Bridgman as well as the Czochralski technique. The chemical and structural characterization of an extracted single crystalline Czochralski-grown specimen yielded a slight variation of the Si−Pd ratio along the growth direction and confirms the existence of a finite Eu(Pd 1−m Si m ) 2 Si 2 homogeneity range. The thorough physical characterization carried out on the same crystal showed that this tiny variation in the composition affects the temperature T v at which the valence transition occurs. These experiments demonstrate a strong coupling between structural and physical properties in the prototypical valence-fluctuating system EuPd 2 Si 2 and explain the different reported values of T v .

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