DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Band structure, superconductivity, and polytypism in AuSn4

Journal Article · · Physical Review Materials
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). Instituto Nicolás Cabrera and Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC); Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Madrid (Spain)
  2. Ames Lab., and Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Valencia (Spain)
  4. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Madrid (Spain). Inst. de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Cantoblanco

The orthorhombic compound AuSn4 is compositionally similar to the Dirac node arc semimetal PtSn4. AuSn4 is, contrary to PtSn4, superconducting with a critical temperature of Tc = 2.35 K. Recent measurements present indications for quasi-two-dimensional superconducting behavior in AuSn4. Here we present measurements of the superconducting density of states and the band structure of AuSn4 through scanning tunneling microscopy and angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). The superconducting gap values in different portions of the Fermi surface are spread around Δ0 = 0.4 meV, which is close to but somewhat larger than Δ = 1.76kBTc expected from BCS theory. We observe superconducting features in the tunneling conductance at the surface up to temperatures about 20% larger than bulk Tc. The band structure calculated with density functional theory follows well the results of ARPES. The crystal structure presents two possible stackings of Sn layers, giving two nearly degenerate polytypes. This makes AuSn4 a rather unique case with a three-dimensional electronic band structure but properties ressembling those of low-dimensional layered compounds.

Research Organization:
Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11358
OSTI ID:
1992671
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1924345
Report Number(s):
IS-J--11,101
Journal Information:
Physical Review Materials, Journal Name: Physical Review Materials Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 7; ISSN 2475-9953
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (87)

Search for Majorana Fermions in Superconductors journal April 2013
Specific heat measurements of a superconducting NbS 2 single crystal in an external magnetic field: Energy gap structure journal July 2010
Compact very low temperature scanning tunneling microscope with mechanically driven horizontal linear positioning stage journal March 2011
Two-dimensional superconductivity and magnetotransport from topological surface states in AuSn4 semimetal journal August 2020
Colloquium: Topological insulators journal November 2010
A study of superconducting composite Sn and Au films journal April 1966
Angular-dependent oscillations of the magnetoresistance in Bi 2 Se 3 due to the three-dimensional bulk Fermi surface journal May 2010
Non-saturating magnetoresistance in heavily disordered semiconductors journal November 2003
Linear magnetoresistance in topological insulator thin films: Quantum phase coherence effects at high temperatures journal January 2013
Special points for Brillouin-zone integrations journal June 1976
Crystal structure of Au1−xNixSn4 intermetallic alloys journal February 2002
Millikelvin scanning tunneling microscope at 20/22 T with a graphite enabled stick–slip approach and an energy resolution below 8 μ eV: Application to conductance quantization at 20 T in single atom point contacts of Al and Au and to the charge density wave of 2H–NbSe 2 journal September 2021
Elimination of Au-embrittlement in solder joints on Au/Ni metallization journal May 2004
Superconductivity in the CuAl2 (C16) crystal class journal April 1962
Dirac Nodal Arc Semimetal PtSn 4 : An Ideal Platform for Understanding Surface Properties and Catalysis for Hydrogen Evolution journal August 2019
Small Fermi surfaces of PtSn4 and Pt3In7 journal May 2018
Au-sn (gold-tin) journal December 1993
The AuSn phase diagram journal January 1993
Precision and efficiency in solid-state pseudopotential calculations journal December 2018
WSXM : A software for scanning probe microscopy and a tool for nanotechnology journal January 2007
Large magnetoresistance in the iron-free pnictide superconductor LaRu2P2 journal February 2021
Maximally localized Wannier functions for entangled energy bands journal December 2001
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set journal July 1996
Dirac node arcs in PtSn4 journal April 2016
Chiral charge order in the superconductor 2H-TaS 2 journal October 2011
Non-trivial band topology in the superconductor AuSn4: a first principle study journal September 2022
Polytypism and superconductivity in the NbS2 system journal January 2021
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Topological semimetals journal October 2016
The tin-rich part of the Au–Pt–Sn system journal January 2001
Quasi One Dimensional Dirac Electrons on the Surface of Ru2Sn3 journal June 2014
Phase transitions between polytypes and intralayer superstructures in transition metal dichalcogenides journal April 2004
New materials physics journal November 2019
Quick iterative scheme for the calculation of transfer matrices: application to Mo (100) journal May 1984
Local Superconducting Density of States of ErNi 2 B 2 C journal January 2006
Refinement of the crystal structures of AuSn4 and PdSn4 journal February 1984
Lattice vibrational behavior of XSn4 (X=Au, Pd, Pt) compounds journal June 1989
Quantum linear magnetoresistance journal March 2000
Anisotropic magnetic properties of light rare-earth diantimonides journal June 1998
Inhibiting the formation of (Au1−xNix)Sn4 and reducing the consumption of Ni metallization in solder joints journal November 2002
Nonsaturating large magnetoresistance in semimetals journal October 2018
Tunable vacuum ultraviolet laser based spectrometer for angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy journal March 2014
Enhanced electron correlations in the binary stannide PdSn 4 : A homologue of the Dirac nodal arc semimetal PtSn 4 journal November 2017
Formation and resettlement of (AuxNi1−x)Sn4 in solder joints of ball-grid-array packages with the Au/Ni surface finish journal October 2000
WannierTools: An open-source software package for novel topological materials journal March 2018
Ultrahigh mobility and giant magnetoresistance in the Dirac semimetal Cd3As2 journal November 2014
The PseudoDojo: Training and grading a 85 element optimized norm-conserving pseudopotential table journal May 2018
Linear nonsaturating magnetoresistance in the Nowotny chimney ladder compound Ru2Sn3 journal May 2020
Linear magnetoresistance in mosaic-like bilayer graphene journal June 2015
QUANTUM ESPRESSO: a modular and open-source software project for quantum simulations of materials journal September 2009
The influence of temperature on the crystal structure of AuSn4 journal August 1981
Extremely large magnetoresistance and ultrahigh mobility in the topological Weyl semimetal candidate NbP journal June 2015
Large, non-saturating magnetoresistance in WTe2 journal September 2014
X-ray investigations of crystallization and thermal expansion of AuSn4, PdSn4 and PtSn4 journal July 1985
Extremely large magnetoresistance in few-layer graphene/boron–nitride heterostructures journal September 2015
A Broyden—Fletcher—Goldfarb—Shanno optimization procedure for molecular geometries journal December 1985
Scanning tunneling measurements of layers of superconducting 2 H -TaSe 2 : Evidence for a zero-bias anomaly in single layers journal March 2013
Scanning tunneling spectroscopy with superconducting tips of Al journal April 2008
Physics and materials challenges for lead-free solders journal February 2003
Superconducting density of states and band structure at the surface of the candidate topological superconductor Au2Pb journal June 2022
Topological Semimetals from First Principles journal July 2019
Simplified feedback control system for scanning tunneling microscopy journal October 2021
Use of frit-disc crucibles for routine and exploratory solution growth of single crystalline samples journal December 2015
Scanning tunneling microscopy in the superconductor LaSb 2 journal June 2013
First-principles calculations for topological quantum materials journal March 2021
Highly convergent schemes for the calculation of bulk and surface Green functions journal April 1985
Superconducting nanostructures fabricated with the scanning tunnelling microscope journal August 2004
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple journal October 1996
Topological insulators and superconductors journal October 2011
Probing the topological surface states in superconducting Sn4Au single crystal: a magneto transport study journal August 2022
Linear magnetoresistance in the low-field limit in density-wave materials journal April 2019
Maximally localized generalized Wannier functions for composite energy bands journal November 1997
Structural relationships, phase stability and bonding of compounds PdSnn (n=2, 3, 4) journal January 2004
Polytypism, polymorphism, and superconductivity in TaSe 2 −x Te x journal March 2015
Extremely large magnetoresistance and Kohler's rule in PdSn 4 : A complete study of thermodynamic, transport, and band-structure properties journal October 2017
Kinetics of the Au-Ni-Sn ternary intermetallic layer redeposition at the solder/under-bump metallurgy interface during aging treatment journal January 2004
Linear Magnetoresistance Caused by Mobility Fluctuations in n -Doped Cd 3 As 2 journal March 2015
Quantum magnetoresistance journal August 1998
Magnetic field effects on transport properties of PtSn 4 journal January 2012
Huge linear magnetoresistance due to open orbits in γ − PtBi 2 journal May 2020
Spin-Orbit Interaction and Magnetoresistance in the Two Dimensional Random System journal February 1980
Superconducting Density of States and Vortex Cores of 2H- NbS 2 journal October 2008
Semiempirical GGA-type density functional constructed with a long-range dispersion correction journal January 2006
Zero-bias conductance peak in detached flakes of superconducting 2 H - TaS 2 probed by scanning tunneling spectroscopy journal June 2014
Kinetics of AuSn4 migration in lead-free solders journal November 2006
Influence of multiband sign-changing superconductivity on vortex cores and vortex pinning in stoichiometric high- T c   CaKFe 4 As 4 journal April 2018
Quasiparticle spectra of 2 H − NbSe 2 : Two-band superconductivity and the role of tunneling selectivity journal October 2015