Structural, transport, and electronic properties of a layered dichalcogenide AuVS2 with semimetallic properties

We report on preparation, crystal structure, transport properties, and ab initio band-structure calculations of the layered compound AuVS 2. Single crystals of submillimeter size are obtained by reacting powders of BaVS 3 with metallic gold at 700 C under an hydrostatic pressure of 3 GPa. According to single-crystal x-ray-diffraction data, the crystal structure is hexagonal with unit-cell parameters a= b= 3.224±0.001 Å, c= 15.039±0.002 Å, and space-group symmetry P 6 3/m m c. Temperature-dependent ac resistivity measurements yield a value of room-temperature in-plane resistivity ϱ ab≈ 400 μ Ω cm and show a slightly metallic temperature dependence above 250 K. Below this temperature the dependence becomes weakly insulating but the resistivity remains≲ 800 μ Ω cm at 4.2 K. This behavior is in agreement with the above band-structure calculations which indicate that AuVS 2 is a semimetal