Abstract. Temperature-dependent measurements of the resistivity of RuIn₃ single crystals show a semiconducting behaviour, in contrast to previously published results (Roof et al 1986 Powder Diffr. 1 20; Pöttgen 1995 J. Alloys Compounds 226 59). In the high-temperature range the semiconducting gap was measured to be 0.4–0.5 eV. We observe an anisotropy of the resistivity along [110] and [001] orientations of the tetragonal single crystals. At low temperatures two activation energies of impurities were estimated to 1 and 10 meV. The temperature dependence of the specific heat and the band structure calculations also show a semiconducting behaviour of RuIn₃.

Print publication: Issue 23 (13 June 2007)
Received 21 March 2007, in final form 18 April 2007
Published 17 May 2007