Growth of NbSe2 superconducting crystal in single-temperature tube furnace

Abstract

Dual-temperature tube furnace is generally used to produce single crystal by chemical vapor transport (CVT). The temperature gradient of single-temperature tube furnace is used to grow NbSe2 single crystal by CVT. The obtained single crystals are characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the magnetization and resistance of NbSe2 single crystal under low temperature are measured. The NbSe2 crystal has a metallic luster and typical dimension of about 2 mm×2 mm. The single crystal NbSe2 shows superconducting transition temperature of 7.1 K and transition width of 0.3 K. The estimated superconducting volume fraction is around 79%. The method employed in this study can be applied to grow other single crystals by CVT.

Keywords

• crystallology
• NbSe2
• single temperature tube furnace
• chemical vapor transport
• superconductivity