Bridgman Growth of NiSb Single Crystals

Abstract

Nickel antimonide belongs to the family of pnictides-intermetallic compounds of 3 d transition metals with Group V elements. In nature, nickel antimonide occurs as the mineral breithauptite. In recent years, pnictides have been used in heterostructures composed of a ferromagnetic intermetallic compound and semiconductor, which have considerable potential for application in spintronics [1-3].According to earlier results [4], nickel antimonide melts congruently at 1153 ° C and has a rather broad homogeneity range: it dissolves 3 at % Sb and Ӎ 4 at % Ni.Czochralski-grown NiSb single crystals [5] had a rather low structural perfection and consisted of mosaic blocks. It was of interest to develop a process for the growth of large, high-quality NiSb single crystals suitable for the fabrication of substrates.Abstract -Structurally perfect NiSb single crystals Ӎ 25 mm in diameter and 250 mm in length were grown by the Bridgman method. Polishing etch compositions were selected for the preparation of NiSb substrate surfaces.

Growth and characterisation of NiSb(0001)/GaAs(111)B epitaxial films

“…MnSb and CrSb have been investigated extensively but work on NiSb thin films is very limited. NiSb occurs naturally as the rare mineral breithauptite but can be grown as a bulk single crystal where it adopts the B8 1 structure with lattice parameters a ¼3.953Å and c ¼5.141Å [22]. The in-plane lattice match between NiSb(0001) and GaAs(111) [a= ffiffiffi 2 p ¼ 3:995Å] should be very good.…”