ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITIES OF SINGLE-CRYSTALLINE TRANSITION-METAL DISILICIDES

Single crystals of the group IVa to VIII transition-metal disilicides, namely TiSi2, VSi2, CrSi2, MoSi2, αFeSi2, and CoSi2, have been successfully grown by a floating-zone method. Temperature and crystallographic dependencies of the resistivity have been measured in the temperature range from 4.2 K to room temperature. The resistivity of all the disilicides show a positive temperature dependence and some anisotropy. The thermal component of the resistivity changes systematically with the group number of the metal elements and correlates well with the d band density of states at the Fermi energy.