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Abstract

Half-Heusler phase HoPtSb was studied by means of powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), heat capacity, magnetization, electrical resistivity and magnetoresistance. Measurements were performed in temperature range 2–300 K and magnetic fields up to 14 T. The results revealed significant atomic disorder in the crystal structure of this compound, and indicated that the electrical transport in HoPtSb is noticeably affected by scattering conduction electrons on structural inhomogeneities. Due to large value of the resistivity accompanied by small overall change of resistivity with changing temperature the high-temperature behavior was attributed to disorder-induced violation of the Matthiessen's rule. In turn, at low temperatures, strong magnetic field of 14 T disclosed resistivity upturn reminiscent of Altshuler-Aronov quantum correction observed in disordered metallic systems. © 2020 The Authors