Abstract
We have fabricated Fe-B thin film composition spreads in search of possible superconducting phases following a theoretical prediction by Kolmogorov et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 217003 (2010)]. Co-sputtering was used to deposit spreads covering a large compositional region of the Fe-B binary phase diagram. A trace of superconducting phase was found in the nanocrystalline part of the spread, where the film undergoes a metal to insulator transition as a function of composition in a region with the average composition of FeB2. The resistance drop occurs at 4 K, and a diamagnetic signal has also been detected at the same temperature. From the field-dependent resistive transition behavior, we estimate the upper critical field to be approximately 2 T.
Highlights
Throughout the one-hundred-year history of superconductivity, search and discovery of new superconductors has largely relied on serendipitous trial-and-error processes
There have been several computational predictions of new superconductors based on screening of known crystal structures in the inorganic crystal structure database (ICSD).[1,2,3]
High boron concentration compounds are in general notorious for their difficulty in proper synthesis owing to the high melting point of boron, and such compounds are often metastable
Summary
Throughout the one-hundred-year history of superconductivity, search and discovery of new superconductors has largely relied on serendipitous trial-and-error processes. We have utilized thin film co-sputtering composition spreads to search for possible superconducting phases in the Fe-B binary system.
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