Magnetotransport properties of epitaxial (100)- and (111)-oriented CeSb thin films

We present the electronic magnetotransport properties of (100)-and (111)-or iented CeSb thin films. The samples were grown epitaxially by molecular bea m epitaxy onto sapphire (11 (2) over bar 0) and (0001) substrates. The temp erature-dependent resistivity is in full correspondence with the behaviour known from bulk material. For (100)-oriented films the analysis of the temp erature and magnetic field-dependent magnetoresistivity results in a H/T ph ase diagram analogous to that of bulk samples. For(111s)-oriented films sli ght deviations were observed. In Hall-effect measurements of (100)-oriented samples a sign change of the Hall coefficient occurred which is in contras t to measurements performed on single crystals. These deviations are interp reted in terms of a skew-scattering component resulting from an incoherent background of non-saturated magnetic moments. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V . All rights reserved.