Superconducting properties of the ternary transition-metal silicide Zr₂Ru₃Si₄

Abstract

Superconducting properties of the polycrystalline Zr 2 Ru 3 Si 4 were investigated by measuring the electrical resistivity, magnetization and specific heat. By these measurements, bulk superconductivity with transition temperature T c = 5.5 K was confirmed. Moreover, Zr 2 Ru 3 Si 4 was found to be a type-II and intermediate-coupling superconductor. Interestingly, the electronic specific heat shows a deviation from a one-gap s-wave model and H c2 (T) shows unusual positive curvature in the vicinity of T c . The electronic structure calculation shows the existence of plural anisotropic Fermi surfaces. These results suggest that Zr 2 Ru 3 Si 4 is not an isotropic single-gap superconductor, but possibly a multi-gap or an anisotropic gap superconductor.

Crystal Structures, Superconducting Properties, and the Coloring Problem in ReAlSi and ReGaSi

“…Transition metal silicides encompass compounds with a broad spectrum of applications, such as thermoelectrics, catalyst, microelectronics, high-temperature structural materials, superconductors, − etc. Among them, rhenium silicides are typical examples and have been intensively studied.…”